HS | The Signs of Jesus (Part 6) | Zack Jernigan

Date: February 25, 2026
Series: The Signs of Jesus
Passage: John 9
Preacher: Pastor Zack Jernigan

Transcript

Good evening, you guys doing okay tonight? You guys okay? Good. At least this side of the room is okay. The rest of you guys, you doing all right? You guys okay tonight? Yeah? That's alright, that's alright. We never want to be fake with anybody, we don't want to be insincere. but I love the way that you guys worship. thank you James for leading us, thank you everybody for helping to use your different gifts as worship leaders, and thank you to our friends in the booth as well, helping us worship Jesus. We're going to be in John chapter 9 tonight, and yeah. I'm sorry, I didn't warn some of you, I caught you off guard. We're going to be in John chapter 9 tonight, John 9. And we're in the signs of Jesus, we're coming to one of these signs that is really, really famous. It's in John chapter 9 where Jesus heals a man who was born blind. I want to give you a heads up, this is a chapter with 41 verses in it, and sometimes you're like, ah, if I just get these couple of verses here and then I skip to halfway through and read three or four more, we kind of get the idea, we get the big picture. But honestly, if we do that with this chapter, I don't think we're going to understand what's going on. And so it's going to seem like a lot, but I want us to to read the entire chapter. It's 41 verses, and so you might need to take a little stretch break halfway through. You might need to like pump your calves and get some blood flow moving so that you don't fall asleep. but God's word is not boring. Somebody say amen. What's going on here is Jesus has just escaped being stoned and killed in the streets, rather at the temple. He said some pretty provocative things about who he is as the Son of God, and the Pharisees didn't like it, and so they picked up stones to try to kill him on the spot. And I'm kind of of the opinion that he disappeared. It just says that he hid himself, that might mean as simple as, you know, he just kind of backed away slowly and got lost in the crowd, but I'm kind of of the opinion that he's got transportation powers. I think that's pretty cool to just imagine it that way, the Bible doesn't tell us. But right after that, when he would naturally maybe if he were one of us just go into hiding and say I need to lay low a little bit, I need to keep a low profile, I don't want to attract too much attention, he does another thing that the Pharisees absolutely hate him for, he heals somebody, and again like he did with somebody in John chapter 5, he heals this person on the Sabbath, which is a holy day. It's a very special day, and they didn't want people doing any work on the Sabbath, they had taken that idea too far. But I want you to understand that whoever you are tonight, whether you go to church all the time, whether this is your very first time in church. I talked to a few friends who it's their first time coming on a Wednesday, can we give it up for all of our first timers tonight? We're glad to have you, we're glad to have you. And regardless of where you're at, whether you don't consider yourself a Christian. Every single week, we have people in the room who are not followers of Jesus, and I think you guys deserve some of the most credit for saying hey, I'm going to be willing to hear you out, I'm going to listen, and I'm going to play along so to speak, and maybe there's something for me here. I actually want to take that a step further. I promise you there is something for you here. Would somebody say amen? There is something for you in God's word. So regardless of who you are, I think all of us are going to see ourselves in this passage in one way or another. And I'm going to read through all of it but then I'm actually going to kind of take us through it again from one angle and then again from another angle, and I want to ask you guys to be patient with me but I also I kind of want to admit to you that as I was studying this passage, I kind of got sidetracked on a few details and as I was studying and developing this message, I just told some of our discussion group leaders, I was like I think I was kind of majoring on the minors, and I think I'd focused on something that is true and helpful about this passage, but I had to come back and almost rewrite it. And so I want to be faithful to God's word. I don't want to ever be casual or careless with it, but I pray that as we open God's word he'll be faithful to do what he always does and show us something real, and something true, and something challenging, but could we do this, could we pray before we start reading? Is that okay? Let's pray. Dear Jesus, thank you for the truth of your word. Lord, I pray that you would hide me behind your scriptures tonight. Lord, I pray that you would filter every word that comes across this microphone according to your scripture. Lord, I pray your Holy Spirit would lead and guide us, not just me as I speak but also for all of us that as we hear from your word. Lord, you would say what I could never put on paper or in a word doc, God, I pray that you would speak powerfully through your Holy Spirit. Teach us and guide us, make us more like your son Jesus. In your name we pray, everybody said Amen. Come on, don't let me do this by myself. Everybody said Amen. Okay good. I told you guys a time or two, if this goes poorly, maybe tonight's not a great example of this, but if this goes poorly, most of the time, if this is boring, it's a little bit your fault, just a little bit. Because yeah it is though, it is. Cause this is a thing that we do together. This is not just like TV, I can see you. This is not a performance. If it was, like, you guys could go to a lot more entertaining performances. But this is something we're doing together. And so we're going to jump in. I'm going to read all the way through chapter 9, and if you've got a copy of the Bible, I encourage you to read along with me, but we'll have it on the screen as well if you don't have one with you. Look at this. As he passed by, he saw a blind man from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Siloam means Sent, which is incredible, we'll come back to that. So he went and washed and came back seeing. He was blind but now he can see. And the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? And some said, it is. Others said, no, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the man. So they said to him, then how were your eyes opened? And he answered, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, well where is he? He says, I don't know. I love that. That had to get included in scripture. He says, I don't know. I don't know where he is. When they brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind, they brought the man to the Pharisees who had formerly been blind, and now it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. That's why the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, he put mud in my eyes, and I washed, and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, how can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, what do you say about him? Since he's opened your eyes. And the blind man who's not blind anymore, he said, he's a prophet. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and that he had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight. And they asked him, is this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? And his parents answered, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but how he sees, we do not know. Nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He's of age. He will speak for himself. Now his parents said these things because they feared that the Jews were because the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. They wouldn't allow them to come back to worship at the synagogue if they claimed to believe in Jesus. That's why they said those things. Verse 23. Therefore, his parents said, he's of age. Ask him. So now for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. You could read that like he's saying, hey, do the right thing. Just admit what we all know. Jesus is a sinner, isn't he? He answered, whether he's a sinner, I do not know. One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see. And they said to him, what did he do to you? How did you open, how did he open your eyes? He answered them, I've already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become one of his disciples? I hear some sarcasm as he says it that way. And they reviled him. Like they're being harsh with him. They're angry now. They reviled him saying, you are his disciples. You are his disciple. We're disciples of Moses. And we know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. And the man answered, why, this is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. And they answered him. They're really angry now. They answered him, you were born in utter sin. And you would teach us? And they cast him out. They didn't like that very much. Verse 35. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him again, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? And he answered, he said, and who is he, sir? Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have seen him. And it is to he who is speaking to you. And he said, Lord, I believed, and he worshiped him. Jesus said, for judgment I came into the world, that those who do not see may see. And those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say, we see, your guilt remains. And this is the word of God, I pray that it has already blessed you, but here's what I want to do. I want to break this down from a couple of different angles. And this is going to be a little bit different than the way we normally break down a passage of scripture, but I just saw this from two different angles. I was trying to picture this from the Pharisees' point of view. And from this blind man's point of view. Can you imagine just for a second the very first thing that you see in the entire world, one of the first things at least, is the Son of God. You imagine your entire life, you were born blind, you've never seen colors, you've never seen images, you've never been able to look another person in the face and see what they look like. You don't know what grass looks like, you don't know what the world looks like. He washes this mud out of his eyes, and immediately he can see, he comes back and he sees the God of Heaven. Come to earth as a man, as Jesus. This is just incredible, so I want to see things from his perspective, but I also want to see things from the perspective of of these Pharisees, these religious leaders who were so unhappy with him. So here's what we're going to do, we're going to look at it from a couple of different passes. The first way that we're going to look at this is we're going to see what happens when we refuse the light. When we refuse the light. The first thing that happens is this. We're unsure. Every single one of us has an opportunity to accept Jesus or reject him. All of us will choose to refuse the light of God, and when I say the light of God, I'm not just talking about, you know, the light bulbs that are up in the ceiling or the light that comes from the sun, I'm talking about the light of God because that is Jesus, that is God himself. What happens is all of us have this opportunity, and we're sometimes on the fence, we're like, I'm not so sure, but it starts like this. It starts as we're just unsure. That's what happens with these neighbors. In verse 8, if you're willing willing to put that back up on the screen for me, I'd be so grateful. In verse 8 it says, and the neighbors who had seen him before as a beggar, well they're confused. They said, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some said, yeah it's him, and other people said, no no no it's just somebody who looks like him. It's just his doppelganger. They were confused, they were unsure. And so I want to be very, very clear. If you see yourself just a little bit in this verse or in any of this description that I'd give for somebody who refuses the light, somebody who rejects Jesus. I don't want you to panic. I want you to know that anyone at any moment, at any time can change, can choose to believe in Jesus, and I believe through the reading and the study of his word, God can illuminate our hearts. He can light up our hearts, just like he lit up this man's eyes. He can open our minds just like he opened this man's eyes. And he can reveal to himself who he truly is. But if you consider yourself like, I'm kind of unsure about who Jesus is. I hear that God has changed some people's lives and that, yeah, they seem different, but I'm unsure. Maybe, maybe that's you. That's not such an evil, terrible thing, but it does get progressively worse if we choose to reject Jesus. Look at what happens in verse 10 next. First we're unsure, and then we're skeptical. I think this is where it's hard. I think we're coming to a world where it's going to be really easy to doubt everything you hear, everything you see, everything you read on the news. I was watching an interview the other day, it was kind of a debate actually. And these two guys were debating something about immigration or something, I don't even remember. It was something like some stat from the government. And they were going back and forth over the exact same argument, over the exact same piece of data. And they were like, no, no, no, I looked at the CDC or I looked at the government's website and it said this. No, I just looked yesterday and it said this. And as I'm listening to this, I'm like, I feel like it could be either one. And and your stats are better than my stats, but my stats make more sense in my head, and we look at them this way, but then I'm like, ah, that's just a stat. Anybody can manipulate a stat. And then you, you come to AI, oh my gosh. Like I saw this clip, have you guys seen people who are, or I think before long, they're going to be using AI to make entire movies on Hollywood. They're like, oh Hollywood is freaking out, look at this scene. Some of them are pretty, pretty convincing, am I right? Some of them, have you guys seen any of those clips where it's like Captain America fights Batman or something like that? Or like, hey, I turned myself into a Marvel superhero and this is a video of me fighting Thanos. And you're like, that looks pretty convincing, dad gum it! And at some point, you're going to be like, I don't know if that was the real movie. Sometimes it's easier to tell, but sometimes you're like, I don't know if that was really in the movie. I don't know if that headline is real. I don't trust any of it. It can be really easy to be skeptical, but look at verse 10, he says, they said to him, well then how were your eyes opened? They're like, okay, assuming it's you. Assuming that you really are the guy who used to sit and beg, the guy that I saw for years and years and years, who was clearly blind or, that or a really good faker. If that's true, then how were your eyes opened? They're skeptical, right? It progresses from there. Look at verse 16. After they're unsure, after we're skeptical, we critique the message. Verse 16 says, some of the Pharisees said, well this man can't be from God. I mean, he doesn't even wear a suit on Sundays. I mean, he doesn't say that, but he says, this guy can't be from God. He heals people on the Sabbath. And any good Christian knows, any good Jew knows, you don't do anything on the Sabbath. And Jesus has already corrected this. He said, hey, how many of you guys tied up your donkey today on the Sabbath? Yeah, so you don't really believe that, not in the way you're saying. Sometimes we'll say, well any good Christian knows that you've got to have shorts that come down past your knee or else you're just being immodest. You're basically the Proverbs 7 woman that Tommy was telling us about on Sunday. If you don't have jeans past your knees, you're basically Satan himself, herself. Sometimes people are like, listen, other families will watch PG-13 movies, but not us. Any good Christian knows. And here's, here's the thing. I'm not saying you need to watch filth. I'm not saying you need to go down and and seek out things that are ungodly, but like sometimes we, we just like to poke holes in technicalities, left and right. And we're like, we're talking about this guy who got healed. What does it have to do with the fact that, was he healed or not? Can he see or not? That's really the only question that matters right now. You're talking about whether he healed somebody on the Sabbath? Like the law said, observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. But these people were going so far, there were actually Pharisees, believe this or not. There was a special group of Pharisees who said it was sinful to go to the bathroom on the Sabbath. And they said, no, no, no, you better, you better hold it all day long. All day long. I don't know about you, but that sounds like more work than going to the bathroom. And so there were some people who took this way, way, way, way, way too far. And they said, well, we know this person's not from God. Is that funny, you guys? Just imagining that? Or is it something else? He said, we know this guy's not from God. Because if he was from God, he wouldn't have healed somebody on the Sabbath. I want us to be very, very careful. That we don't get so focused on our traditions, on our own personal convictions, on our preferences about how we do church. That when Jesus does something that doesn't fit our personal preferences or our personal interpretation, that we just immediately dismiss it. We just immediately dismiss it. Well, that person doesn't have a degree. They didn't, they don't have a doctorate or a Ph.D. in theology. How can we possibly trust what they have to say? Did they, did they teach you something from God's word? Maybe? Well, that person, they used to, they used to do drugs. They used to say the have the worst language I used to hear them talk. So you really can't trust what they say. Hold on, hold on. Is there evidence that they've changed? Because that's what the whole Bible tells us is that they can change, somebody say amen. So don't be skeptical, and don't critique the message the message. He says, if somebody was really from God they wouldn't do this. Well then look at verse 18 through 22. This is just progressing even more. The Jews didn't believe him. So they called his parents. And they said, is this your son? And and I already told you what happens here. So basically, they had outlawed following Jesus. They said, if you believe in Jesus, if you put your faith in him, if you say that he's the Messiah or the Christ, then we're not going to let you back into our synagogue. They went overboard with this. So when they asked his parents, they're like, um, I'm not going to incriminate myself. Yes, that's our son. Yes, he was born blind. Seems like he can see, but I'm not saying anything else. You can ask him. They kind of throw their son under the bus, right? I mean, it kind of adds up. He was, he had to beg, they weren't taking care of him, it seems. But what happens is they start adding pressure. When we refuse the light, we we're unsure, but then we're skeptical, but then we critique the message, and as it continues, we add pressure. And this is, this is just trying to almost blackmail somebody into denying Christ. After that, they attack the messenger. Look at verse 24. For the second time they called this man who had been born blind, and they say, give glory to God. We we know that this man is a sinner. They're really pressuring him. I mean, this is like good cop, bad cop behavior. Like they put the spotlight on his head and they're like, buddy, we know you want to get out of here. We know you want to go home. We know, uh, you probably got your whole life ahead of you now, right? You can see. So why don't you just do the right thing? Why don't you just tell us what we already know. And that this guy is demon possessed, right? He tricked you, he didn't really heal you, he paid you some money. We know that he's a sinner. Why don't you just do the right thing? Give glory to God. Do the right thing. And that's when this guy is just fed up. He's like, you're not hearing me. In verse 28, they move from attacking the messenger to mocking him in verse 28. They reviled him. And they just said, you're, you're one of his disciples, aren't you? He's like, I don't even know, but the more you talk, the more I want to be one of his disciples. Then from there, they reject Christ and they remain blind. Look at verse 34. They said to him, you were born in utter sin. And you would teach us? And they cast him out. See they had this belief, at the very beginning if you guys could actually go back to verse one on that first slide for us. The first question they ask him is hey Jesus, who sinned? This man or his parents? Cause they had all these superstitions. Some of us that sounds like an old wives tale but we're actually kind of superstitious ourself. They had this question, they said Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents? Why is he blind? Was it him that sinned or his parents sin? And he said, it's not that this man sinned or his parents. But that the works of God might be displayed in him. See God's word teaches that sometimes terrible, evil, awful things happen just because we live in a terrible, evil, broken, sinful world. It says in Romans that all of creation groans and is waiting for God to come and restore things. Like yeah, this world is broken. And the whole world knows it's broken. I know it's broken, you know it's broken. There's wars, there's famine, there's sickness, there's scandals, there's all kinds of tragedies. There's diseases, we know it's broken. Sometimes bad things happen just because of the sinful broken world that we live in. But there are sometimes it says in God's word that God chastises those whom he loves. It says that he only chastises, he only punishes those whom he loves. In the same way that think about this, I've got a four-year-old and a two-year-old. I every so often, when they really misbehave, I'll punish them. I might spank them or I might send them to time out. And they get like, they're cute, let me tell you, they're adorable. How many of you guys have seen my kids, you know my kids are kind of cute. They're adorable. Sometimes it hurts me. Do you ever, do you ever have your parents, did your parents ever tell you this is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you? And you're like, I don't buy it, that's a lie. Okay then spank yourself Mom, go ahead, see, I don't mind. That's fine. But it really, it breaks my heart sometimes I'm like, Theo is going to cry, it's going to be pitiful. But I spank my son because I love my son. Because I want him to not be a brat. Cause I don't want him to learn bad habits. I don't want him to continue down some of those paths that are a little bit cute right now, but they're going to make it so that he doesn't have any friends one day. So he's never going to be able to get a job. So he's not going to be able to get married, why? Because he's spoiled and selfish and So I I punish my son because I love my son. In the same way God sometimes allows evil things to happen or will allow terrible things to happen because he loves us, because he wants to punish us and say stop doing that, I love you too much, that's not for you, come back to me. But then other times, like in this verse, God allows evil to happen, he lets it through the gates, he doesn't stop it, not every single time. Because he wants to use it as an example and say, wait, I'm not done, watch what I'm going to do with that. Watch how I'm going to turn that around in ways that you'd never imagine possible. When we refuse the light, ultimately, we do what this what these Pharisees do, they reject Jesus. And the very end they even say to him, are we blind? Are we blind like you're talking about? Like he used to be blind, what are you saying Jesus? He says, you're exactly who I'm talking about. I think sometimes I imagine have you ever seen like a UFC fight or a boxing match, or somebody just like they get they get their bell rung, they get knocked out, they get punched or kneed in the face, and they're on the ground, they're not moving for a second, but then they get up and they're just kind of stumbling, and they're like, no no, I'm good, I'm fine. And the referee is like, you're concussed, you don't know where you are, you don't know what your name is, sit down, this fight is over. And they're like, no no no, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm I'm ready to fight so and so. And they're like, that's not even who you're fighting. They're they're like, I'm perfectly fine, I'm you're not fine, there is blood pouring from your face, you're falling down, you're actually lying on the ground, and you think you're standing up. I I think sometimes like that's you and me, when we reject Christ. When we say no I'm fine, no I'm good. I don't need to be rescued, I don't need to be saved. I can keep on going, I can fix myself. And it's like we're we're lying in a pool of our own drool saying I'm fine, I've got it, I don't need any help. And we just look like fools. And there's no reason for us to look like fools, Jesus came to pick us up, to bring us back into a relight a right relationship with God, to save us from our sins, to give us not just a better life but a new life. Somebody say amen. He came to restore us. And he's like, you don't have to keep getting beat up, I was already beat up. I took all the worst punishment that you could possibly imagine, the punishment that you couldn't handle. He says, I didn't just get punched in the face, I went to the cross for you. And Jesus the perfect son of God, just a few chapters after this one, he goes to the cross, he goes to Calvary, he allows them to accuse him of being a criminal, and a heretic, and an evil person, they called him demon possessed, they spit in his face, they whipped him, they punched him, they mocked him, they nailed him to a cross and they put a crown of thorns on his head and they said, haha, here's your king. He said he's the king? Here's your king. He says I already took the beating in your place and he did that so that you and I could take the paradise, could get that beautiful exchange, he gets what we deserve and then we get the perfect heaven, we get paradise, we get a right relationship with God, we don't have to take the beating. Let me, let me show you something in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, cause what Jesus is talking about here, he says, I'm not ju I'm using your physical blindness to show you that you've got a much more serious issue, it's spiritual blindness. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He says, this is Paul speaking to the church in Corinth, and he says, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. If somebody doesn't understand the gospel, if they can't see it, it's it's the people who are who are dying, who can't see it. And he says, in this case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel. The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. He said, here's what's happening. The God of this world, he's not talking about the big G God in your Bible and right here you see it's it's little G God. He's talking about Satan, he's talking about the devil. This is why there are sometimes when you're trying to share the gospel with a friend, you're trying to share the gospel with a loved one, and maybe you're you're pointing out you're like look at the scriptures, look at life, look at creation, you think this came from nothing? You think this was random chance? Like look at, look at God's word, it's so crystal clear, how don't you, how do you not see it? Because the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. Because just like Saul, who was persecuting Christians, when he first encountered God, he doesn't recognize him, he's blinded, and when he goes to Ananias, when he goes to a Christian who's supposed to encourage him and help him through this, it says like scales fell from his eyes, and all of a sudden he could see. In the same way that this man here in John 10 was blind and then all of a sudden he washes and he can see until the Holy Spirit breaks through that blindness and helps us to see clearly. This is why it says in 1st Corinthians that the the wisdom of this world is foolish to the wise of this world. The wisdom of Christ, the wisdom of the cross, is nonsense to people who don't believe, who don't know. This is why we love God's word because the word of God, is why we just prayed God's word tonight, because the word of God is the only thing that's able to break through that darkness and light up the blindness of this world. Because I I like apologetics, you know what apologetics is? It's it's the defense of your faith. It's being able to say well hey, some people say the world is this long, well technically if you look at the Bible this way, and you look at archaeology, and you look at history, and you look at these different things, you could see how God created the world in this way. And sometimes it's saying here's how I I can prove to you or I can give you a lot of evidence that Jesus was who he said he is. And you can do it necessarily, not necessarily saying because thus says the word of God, because the Bible tells me so, you're you're appealing to logic, and you're appealing to all these different philosophies. I I want to make sure I don't say this the wrong way. Apologetics is great. But you can't argue anybody into being saved, somebody say amen. I think it's great to know what you believe and to know that it's rational and that it's reasonable, and that you're not an idiot who believes in fairy tales just because you you follow Jesus. I think in a roundabout way for me, honestly it takes a lot more faith to believe in something else. Jesus is unignorable, because I believe in him and I see him all the way around the world, but it is the word of God that changes lives. That's why when we pray, one of the things that we're praying when, when somebody who doesn't know Jesus, I'm saying, God I pray that you give me a chance to talk to them about Christ, I pray that they would understand, we can pray this kind of scripture and say God, I pray that you would remove the blindness from their eyes, I pray that your word would pierce that darkness, that they'd be able to see you in all of your glory and beauty. So that's, that's the first angle, that's the first pass, but look look at the next pass, I I want to show you, that was bad news, but here's good news. Here's what happens when we respond to the light. First, we recognize Jesus. Look at verse 11. We recognize Jesus, and it's crazy how you can track like the progression of belief in this guy's life. Because at first, they said, who did it? Who who healed you, how did this happen? He goes, I I don't know, some guy named Jesus. So he's just a guy, he knows his name, but he's not assigning deity, he's not saying the cosmic creator of the universe, the one who came to die on the cross in our place, the one who's here to do all that substitutionary atonement stuff that I heard about in theology class. He has no theology at this point, he doesn't know who Jesus is. We but he recognizes him, he's like okay that's Jesus. If you're here tonight, I think every single one of us is at least at that point. When we're responding to the light, we recognize Jesus, I'm telling you about him. You recognize Jesus, that's the first thing that happens, but then you review the facts. When we respond to the light, we review the facts. In verse 15 it says, so the Pharisees again asked him how he'd received his sight, and this poor guy has to restate the sequence of events like 16 times, later he's annoyed, he's like I've already told you, you're just not listening. I had to tell my friends, then I had to tell my parents, then I had to tell this group of Pharisees, then I had to tell that group of Pharisees, seems like you just want me to say something different. And he he's reviewing the facts, he goes okay, here's what happened, verse 15. They asked him how he's, he put mud in my eyes, and I washed, and now I see. I went down to the pool of Siloam, and I washed, and I received my sight. He reviewed the facts. And sometimes God moves powerfully in a person's life and they don't understand it, but when they just keep articulating it, and maybe this is part of your testimony that maybe this happened for you in real time right now over the last few weeks. God started revealing himself to you, you prayed, and you feel like you've changed, you've asked God to reveal himself to you, and you're like I think I'm getting it but I don't really get it. Something's different, I just don't know what it is. You review the facts. And then next, we share it with others. I think this is incredible, verse 25. It says, he answered, he says, whether Jesus is a sinner, I don't know. Verse 25. One thing I do know, I was blind and now I see. He's a missionary, arguably before he's even saved. If any of you in the room have been following Jesus 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years, and you've never been on a mission trip, we have a few openings in Budapest. Not Budapest, that's false advertising, I'm so sorry, fake news. Don't believe everything you hear. We have a few openings for Bucharest, and Atlanta. This guy was telling people about Jesus before he was even saved, what's your excuse? Hello. But I have baseball. Heck of a God. He's telling people about his faith, he's sharing it with others. When we respond to the light, we recognize Jesus, we review the facts, and we share it with others, and then this has already been happening but then we test our faith. And I bet when you put your faith in Jesus, if you've already done that, you didn't have to go in front of a trial, you didn't have to go in front of a a judge or like the Sanhedrin Pharisees, you didn't have to go in front of like the a council of of religious leaders. Maybe from your background you are going to have to explain yourself a lot though. In verse 30, look at it. He's he's testing his faith. The man answered he says this is an amazing thing. You keep asking me how this happened. You keep asking how this happened. You don't know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. That's pretty crazy. I thought you guys were the ones who knew everything. I thought you had this all figured out. Listen, there is something that there is something that can happen in your life when you give your life to Christ, when you stop sinning, when you stop vaping, when you stop smoking, when you stop cussing, when you start talking about Christ, when you start talking about a God that six months ago you didn't even know, and now there's something obviously different in you. And it's not just behavior modification. You didn't just go to take like a self help class, you didn't go to rehab. You're more kind, you're more patient, you're more gentle. You're more selfless, you're more generous. That is something that the rest of the world cannot make sense of. They're like, I don't know what's gotten into you, you're smoking something, I'm not smoking anything. I gave my life to Jesus, and he's the Lord of my life, and now the Holy Spirit dwells in me and leads me and guides me and prompts me and directs me which way to go. That's something that the rest of the world cannot make sense of. They could tell, they're like, we know you can see. We just don't know how you can see. And he's like, I'm telling you how, you just don't want to believe it. At some point when you respond to the light, your faith is tested and maybe that's just a moment when you're sitting here going do I really believe this? I was just at summer camp last night, and I gave my life to Christ, I went down and I prayed and and Devin was there, he was my leader and he he told he told me what the Bible says and I said I think I understand that and I gave my life to Christ but am I crazy? Do I really believe this? Maybe that's just you inspecting your own faith, but we test our faith, and then last, second to last, we genuinely seek God. In verse 36, he comes to Jesus and he's like Jesus everybody's pretty mad at you. thank you for giving me sight but there's some people who are not happy with me, happy with you. You should know, and now they're not happy with me. And Jesus says hey, do you believe in the Son of Man? And he goes yeah, I I I do. I just don't know who he is. Who is he? I do want to believe in him. And Jesus says you have seen him. It's it's me. It's the one that you're speaking to. And then verse 38. Arguably, he gets saved. He says, Lord I believe, and he worshipped him. That was the that was the the line in the sand. He says I believe, and he worshipped him. Listen, it's important to note he didn't just say, okay I admit that you are who you say you are, he worshipped him, he was obedient to him. See the demons believe. James says the demons believe, and shudder, they're terrified. You say you follow Jesus, but you have no fear of God. You you seem like you don't think that he's a real deal, you act like he's a fairy tale. You say you believe like you mentally acknowledge that God is real, but you don't obey him, you don't worship him. You're like I I've been struggling with the same sin for the last 18 years, like you're not struggling with that sin, you are choosing that sin. 18 years? There's such a thing as chemical addictions, I understand that, there's such a thing as as trauma, I understand that. But there's a lot of things if we're being honest, we're we're not struggling with it, we are choosing it. I think I would point you back to James. The demons believe. The demons have very good theology. They know what God is like more accurately and specifically than you do. They've seen him. They've been kicked out of heaven by him. They know what's in the word, but they don't worship him, they don't obey him. I go back to the first practical point, I want to show you these back-to-back. When we look at the first guy's life, when we look at what happens when we reject Christ, here's what I want you to see, spiritual blindness isn't about a lack of evidence, it's about refusing to admit our need. Stop pretending that you can see. and bring your needs honestly to Jesus. If you're on that first path, if you're saying I'm hearing you out, I'm listening, but generally I'm rejecting Christ, I am closed off to Jesus, or if you're talking to somebody like that, what you gotta lovingly patiently but firmly help them understand is stop pretending you're alright, you're not alright. Don't pretend that you can see when you clearly can't. This is why it says in James, when we accept Christ, what has to happen is in James 1 it says that we have to receive the implanted word of God with meekness. Meekness is humility. We have to admit, I am wrong, I don't have it all figured out. I need you God. I can't do this on my own. I thought I had some answers, my answers are garbage, and I need your truth in my life. You've got to humble yourself. The second one is this. Maybe, maybe you're like halfway through this step, you're halfway through this process like the man who was born blind, but when you respond to the light, here's the second practical point. God grows our faith through honest testimony, not perfect theology. Don't wait until you have every answer, share what Jesus has done in your life. I didn't ask this person's permission to share it, so I'm gonna share this anonymously, but I was talking to a brother just this week. I said hey friend, I think you should really think about going on one of these mission trips. I think you are perfect for one of these, I think that would just catapult your faith to the next step. I'd be so encouraged and proud of you if you were able to go on one of these trips. And he said, I don't think I'm ready to go on a mission trip yet. I think I still have some growing to do. And respectfully, I was like, I think that's a cop-out. I think that's a cop-out. I'd say that with love. I think it's a cop-out. Because here's the deal. It's good to be humble. It's good to say, there's a lot that I don't know. There's a lot that I still need to learn in. But understand, if you're saying hey, I have a lot of growing to do, that is going to be true until you are dead. That is always going to be true. That sentence will never not be true of you. You will always be able to say, honestly, I think I still have some growing to do. If you're 90 years old, you still have some growing to do. I had a professor who said, the only good Christians are dead Christians. And he was not a homicidal maniac who was out to kill Christians. He was saying, the only good Christians are the ones who die and go to heaven and receive a glorified body, a glorified mind, and they don't struggle with sin, they're not tempted, that they're good now, but they weren't before. I'm not suggesting that theology isn't important. I think you should come to Sunday school, I think you should come to a class. I think you should come to small groups on Sundays. I think you should study your Bible every single day. You should listen to extra sermons. You should be earnestly desiring wisdom from God's word. But don't use that as an excuse. If you've sat under 50 sermons, and you think, I still have some growing to do. I can't tell that guy yes you can. Start sharing what you know. Here's what we're going to do, we're going to go straight to our groups tonight. We're going to go straight to our groups and break down tonight's message. We've run out of time for time for music and response and I apologize, that's my fault. But here's what I want us to do as soon as we sit down. If any of you are saying, hey, I think I'm on one of those paths and it's not the same one as the man who was born blind. I've been I've been pretty critical. I've been skeptical. I've been making some excuses. Just own up to that and say, hey guys, can I be honest? I think I'm a little bit more like the Pharisees than this person. Just own up to that. But wherever you're at, continue to resolve to continue to take that next step with Jesus. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, I pray that you would help us to be honest with one another. Help us to encourage one another as we open up and share and we're vulnerable God in our groups. I pray, Lord if there are people that we we now know how to pray for more accurately, Lord we pray for them every day. I pray that you would remove the spiritual blindness from the eyes of the people around us. Lord I pray that you would help us to see you clearly in all of your glory. I pray you help us to follow you and share about you with others. And we ask that you would help us to be obedient to you, not just acknowledge who you are mentally on a cognitive level, but God I pray that you help us to obey you and worship you. If there's anyone here who doesn't know you tonight, Lord I pray that they would put their faith in you tonight. I pray they wouldn't wait. I pray they wouldn't put it off or make excuses God. I pray that they would confess you as Lord and Savior. They put their faith in you and begin to follow you. In your name we pray, Amen.