SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER_01: It's good to be back with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I want to begin by thanking ultimately God, but also you, our church family.
SPEAKER_01: These past four weeks with our little newest baby Lucy have been such a gift to us.
SPEAKER_01: And we and my family, I'm so thankful for this, have just seen the love of the church poured out on us, and we've been thanking God for his steadfast love displayed through meals, I mean, amazing meals, messages, prayers, but most especially, I think, just the gift of rest.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds funny to say when you have a you know almost five-week newborn in the house, but we really have considered this to be a season of rest, not sleep, but the kind of rest that comes when you have nothing to do but to hold a baby that really needs nothing else than to just be held.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm incredibly thankful for you, church.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have to admit, I don't know how much you guys missed me over these last four weeks.
SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't know this, but we had two of the highest attended Sundays that we've had in the history of our church.
SPEAKER_01: Two of the highest giving Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: I met with the small group leaders, the small groups launched, they're going amazing.
SPEAKER_01: The Blue Jays made it to the World Series.
SPEAKER_01: All that to say I'm starting to question my worth around here.
SPEAKER_01: And I spoke with the elders this past week.
SPEAKER_01: They said if the Leafs make it to the playoffs, I'll be forced on another sabbatical because there's obviously some sort of connection here between me being away.
SPEAKER_01: But truly, this has been one of the most restful seasons of our family's life, and so I just want to thank you, church, for that.
SPEAKER_01: I want to thank the elders and the staff for the weight that they pulled.
SPEAKER_01: I especially want to just thank Mark, so thankful for you, brother, so thankful for you carrying so much of the weight, preaching twice.
SPEAKER_01: Four amazing sermons this last week.
SPEAKER_01: Can we just praise the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord for all that he has done.
SPEAKER_01: It is good to be back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to get back into the Gospel of John with you.
SPEAKER_01: And so you can turn there now.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be in John chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna want a copy of God's word in front of you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And so our ushers are coming down to the front.
SPEAKER_01: You can flag one of them down.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a copy, they'll get one into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that you've noticed it.
SPEAKER_01: This time of year in Ontario is the time of year where we start to wonder if the sun has forgotten its job.
SPEAKER_01: You wake up in the morning, it's dark.
SPEAKER_01: You go home after work, it's dark.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing but darkness.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know about you, but the darkness does something to me.
SPEAKER_01: It messes with my rhythm.
SPEAKER_01: I mean my circadian rhythm, but uh, of course, just my rhythm in life, my energy, practically walking around that house in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm stepping on toys.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that were there.
SPEAKER_01: We need light.
SPEAKER_01: At a season like this, I can't wait until we start to get to the lighter days again.
SPEAKER_01: I know we're just heading into more darkness, but I'm reminded that we thrive on light.
SPEAKER_01: And it makes me think of Jesus' words in the festival of booths in John 8, where he stood in that crowd and he declared, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Now those words were profound, and we're gonna see that this morning, but they're also provocative because Jesus didn't just stand up and say, Hey, listen, I am a light, and if you follow me, I'll give you some guidance among many different lights.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus made this powerful claim in our life that he is the light, meaning apart from him, you cannot see anything as it truly is.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's a profound claim, that's a provocative claim, and it's the claim that Jesus made in John 8.
SPEAKER_01: It's a claim that in John 9, John the gospel writer, fleshes out for us.
SPEAKER_01: John shows us what that light actually does in our life, and in John 9, Jesus walks into a scene and being the light of the world, shines his light on all the people there.
SPEAKER_01: And what we find is that this light is colliding with blindness.
SPEAKER_01: There's one person who can see, it's Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And there is one person who walks away, seeing, and it's the man he healed.
SPEAKER_01: No one walks away the same.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, the same light is shining on you and me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, the light of the world, through his word and the power and presence of his Holy Spirit, is shining on you and I.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to understand that Jesus is the light that shines with inescapable power.
SPEAKER_01: He shines on us this morning, and he shines with this inescapable power that no matter what, you cannot walk away change.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: You're here now, and unless you know you do the kind of the awkward thing, you just get up and leave.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to understand that if you hear Jesus' word, it will change you for better or for worse.
SPEAKER_01: And so the question this morning is not, you know, whether or not we'll be changed.
SPEAKER_01: The question is how.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see that in the text this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So would you stand with me as we read God's word?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read all of John chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: It is a thrilling story.
SPEAKER_01: It is a long story, so maybe just massage out your legs for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do this together.
SPEAKER_01: As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
SPEAKER_01: And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned?
SPEAKER_01: This man or his parents?
SPEAKER_01: That he was born blind.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
SPEAKER_01: We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.
SPEAKER_01: Night is coming when no one can work.
SPEAKER_01: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva.
SPEAKER_01: Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means scent.
SPEAKER_01: So he went and washed and came back seeing.
SPEAKER_01: 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?
SPEAKER_01: Some said, It is he.
SPEAKER_01: Others said, No, but he is like him.
SPEAKER_01: He kept saying, I'm the man.
SPEAKER_01: So they said to them, said to him, Then how are your eyes opened?
SPEAKER_01: He answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash.
SPEAKER_01: So I went and washed and received my sight.
SPEAKER_01: They said to him, Where is he?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: They brought to the they brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
SPEAKER_01: Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight, and he said to them, He put mud on my eyes, and I washed and I see.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for how does he not for he does not keep the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?
SPEAKER_01: And there is division among them.
SPEAKER_01: So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?
SPEAKER_01: He said, He is a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
SPEAKER_01: How then does he now see?
SPEAKER_01: His parents answered, We know know that this is our son, and that he was born blind, but how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Ask him.
SPEAKER_01: He is of age, he will speak for himself.
SPEAKER_01: His parents said these things because they feared the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore his parents said, He is of age.
SPEAKER_01: Ask him.
SPEAKER_01: So for the second time they called the man who had been born blind, and said to him, Give glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: We know that this man is a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: He answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know.
SPEAKER_01: One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.
SPEAKER_01: They said to him, What did he do to you?
SPEAKER_01: How did he open your eyes?
SPEAKER_01: He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you want to hear it again?
SPEAKER_01: Do you also want to become his disciples?
SPEAKER_01: And they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
SPEAKER_01: We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.
SPEAKER_01: And the man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing.
SPEAKER_01: You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
SPEAKER_01: If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: They answered him, You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?
SPEAKER_01: And they cast him out.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus heard that they had cast him out.
SPEAKER_01: And having found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?
SPEAKER_01: He answered, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Lord, I believe.
SPEAKER_01: And he worshipped him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, For judgment I come into this world, for those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say we see, your guilt remains.
SPEAKER_01: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You can take a seat.
SPEAKER_01: Loved ones, the light of Jesus this morning is shining with inescapable power.
SPEAKER_01: And before we rush ahead to understand what is in this text, I want us just to stop right now and settle this truth deep in our hearts that we need this light.
SPEAKER_01: What the world needs is this light.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Anxiety, fear, hidden sin, self-reliance, every moment that's made you feel like you can't take make it another day.
SPEAKER_01: All of these things fester and grow in darkness.
SPEAKER_01: And this morning, the opportunity that Jesus is holding in front of us is to allow the light of the world that brings healing in it to enter into every part of our life.
SPEAKER_01: And so we can praise God this morning that this light is shining, and yet we'll see something important here, and that's that this light is not safe.
SPEAKER_01: It is a good life, but it is not tame.
SPEAKER_01: And you know that in the story that as this light shines, there's only one person in the midst of many blind people who is healed.
SPEAKER_01: The rest walk away more hardened, and I want you to know the same reality is true for us this morning.
SPEAKER_01: That as the light of Jesus shines through his word, it never leaves anyone the same.
SPEAKER_01: It always changes us, it always calls for a response.
SPEAKER_01: So let's settle it in our hearts right now.
SPEAKER_01: We need this light.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're making this prayer right now in your own heart of hearts.
SPEAKER_01: God, God, shine, shine in every room of my heart, even those that I have the door closed to, even where I've been living in darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Spirit, give me courage, give me confidence to allow the light of Jesus to shine.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is offering a seeing that only comes to the blind this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And so we embrace our blindness as we read of this tragedy that while grace is revealing life, pride can conceal it.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see this this morning.
SPEAKER_01: The first thing I want you to see is that the light shines to give sight.
SPEAKER_01: The light shines to give sight.
SPEAKER_01: Notice how the story begins.
SPEAKER_01: John sets the scene.
SPEAKER_01: As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
SPEAKER_01: Now, did you notice something throughout John 9?
SPEAKER_01: Whenever John refers to this man, he doesn't give him a name.
SPEAKER_01: He keeps calling him, according to his crippling problem, the man blind from birth.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, I'd be kind of offended by that.
SPEAKER_01: If you called me the pastor with an ugly face, and you would not call me by name, I would think something is up.
SPEAKER_01: And something is up.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know this man's name, we don't know his family, we don't know his story, because the real story here, John is signaling to us, is his blindness.
SPEAKER_01: His physical blindness is actually meant to point us to something deeper in the story.
SPEAKER_01: And we see that right from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that the disciples in verse 2 want to analyze it.
SPEAKER_01: Rabbi, they say, do you see this in the text?
SPEAKER_01: Who sinned?
SPEAKER_01: This man or his parents, they want an explanation.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants something deeper.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants this blind man, not for not his blindness to be explained, but for the Son of God to be revealed in the midst of his blindness.
SPEAKER_01: And John and Jesus ultimately are pressing you and I this morning to the reality beneath this man's blindness, that his blindness is a picture of our own blindness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our blindness isn't, it's not in the eyes, it is in the heart.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Jesus is talking about at the end of the chapter in verse 39, when he says, For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, that those who see may become blind.
SPEAKER_01: There is a type of physical seeing you can have while being spiritually blind.
SPEAKER_01: And so notice right from the get-go that everybody in the story is blind.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, some are physically blind, but all, all are spiritually blind.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here is the theological reality of your life.
SPEAKER_01: Here is us taking pages of scripture, applying them to the reality of our life.
SPEAKER_01: The consequences of sin are not just guilt.
SPEAKER_01: The consequences of sin are blindness.
SPEAKER_01: We are born unable to see God, unable to understand spiritual truth, unable to recognize the light of the world even when it is standing right in front of us.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the tragedy of John 9 is that the religious elite, the people who supposedly know the most about God, are actually the blindest.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they could quote Isaiah 42, what Mark read earlier this morning, that the servant of the Lord will open the eyes of the blind and bring prisoners out of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: They knew that verse, they taught that verse, but when the servant of the Lord came and opened up blind eyes and brought prisoners out of darkness, who was it who missed it entirely?
SPEAKER_01: It was the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: They were plagued by a blindness.
SPEAKER_01: And Loveland, I want you to understand that that blindness was not just their problem, that blindness is in all of us.
SPEAKER_01: Now understand this.
SPEAKER_01: This is where the Christian worldview begins.
SPEAKER_01: Not with an optimism about human potential, but with a realism about human blindness.
SPEAKER_01: Every part of the gospel of grace is an answer to this condition that we do not seek God.
SPEAKER_01: It begins in Genesis 3, where we're told that Adam and Eve's eyes were opened, but the only thing their eyes are open to is their shame.
SPEAKER_01: It's their guilt.
SPEAKER_01: In Isaiah, God condemns Israel's blindness and promises a servant who will open their eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 says the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans 1, Paul makes this fascinating argument that because sinners have handed themselves over to sin, God has handed them over to their sin so that they have become futile in their thinking, so that their minds have become darkened.
SPEAKER_01: This is the reality of our spiritual blindness.
SPEAKER_01: Do you recognize this?
SPEAKER_01: That sin does not just mean you are a bad person who does bad things.
SPEAKER_01: The reality of our sin is that we are blind people who cannot see.
SPEAKER_01: If you can't see, it doesn't make a difference if you're in a janitor's closet or on the edge of a grand canyon.
SPEAKER_01: A blind person cannot see.
SPEAKER_01: And you need to know this morning, the truth that we are being confronted with this morning is that neither can you.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to understand that it's when when we embrace this blindness that the Christian life not only begins, but continues.
SPEAKER_01: This is where salvation starts, when we reach out in faith for the hand that can guide us to life.
SPEAKER_01: This is where sanctification happens, when we daily reach out to the hand, to the scriptures, in obedience to the hand that guides us to life.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I was reading Genesis this week and reminded of the kind of faith that was in Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: When Abraham was promised a son, you know what the problem was initially?
SPEAKER_01: The problem was not that Abraham couldn't see, the problem really was that Abraham could see too much, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_01: When God had promised Abraham a son, Abraham, you know, would have responded to God, God, listen, have you seen my wife?
SPEAKER_01: She's 90.
SPEAKER_01: Now, husbands, take notes.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever say that, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever say anything like that.
SPEAKER_01: Horrible idea.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, once Abraham started responding in faith, you know what happened?
SPEAKER_01: He stopped walking by sight.
SPEAKER_01: He started walking by faith.
SPEAKER_01: And scripture turns spiritual sight upside down, saying that it has nothing to do with what we see and understand physically.
SPEAKER_01: It has everything to do with what we see spiritually and believe.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this brings it back to us.
SPEAKER_01: We might nod along, we might say, yes, the world is blind, but but do you know how that blindness lives in you?
SPEAKER_01: Now, as we seek to get very practical here, let me give you seven ways really quickly that as we pause and ask, how do we know that we are blind?
SPEAKER_01: First, let me tell you this: that the scriptures tell us that we know we're blind.
SPEAKER_01: No you're blind when you minimize sin instead of mourning it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus told us, blessed are those who mourn, but we often shrug off sin as though it's not a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is that we're blind to how serious it really is.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, I want you to see that you're blind when you fear being known more than being wrong.
SPEAKER_01: The scripture calls us that through Jesus Christ we can walk in the light as he is in the light, but so often don't we keep our cards close.
SPEAKER_01: We hide, we sin in private.
SPEAKER_01: We think as long as no one finds out, we'll be okay.
SPEAKER_01: That's blindness.
SPEAKER_01: Third, I want you to see that you you know you're blind when you know a lot about God, but you rarely talk to him.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is the blindness of the Pharisees that's really laughable throughout the gospels.
SPEAKER_01: These are the people of whom Jesus said, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
SPEAKER_01: Fourthly, you know you're blind when you see others' faults clearly, but you ignore your own.
SPEAKER_01: This is the silliness Jesus speaks about of noticing a speck in your brother's eye when there is a log in your own.
SPEAKER_01: This is a blindness.
SPEAKER_01: Fifth, I want you to see, you know you're blind when you can explain the gospel, but you don't rest in it.
SPEAKER_01: You know of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You don't heed his words to come to him when you are weary, even though he said, I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_01: Sixth, you know you're blind when you confuse activity serving for intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Like Martha, you're anxious and busy with many things, but you rarely find time to sit at the feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Seventhly and lastly, I want you to know that you are you know you're blind when you won't surrender until you understand everything.
SPEAKER_01: You're unwilling to trust the Lord with all your heart.
SPEAKER_01: You are all too willing to lean on your own understanding and loved when I give you this list to show you that this is blindness.
SPEAKER_01: And my hope is that you see yourself here.
SPEAKER_01: My hope this morning is that you're like, man, I if I don't have all seven of those, I at least have five.
SPEAKER_01: Because look what happens in this story when Jesus sees blindness, Jesus is moved with compassion and he rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that when the disciples see a problem in this blind man demanding answers, what Jesus sees is a stage that is set for his power to be displayed.
SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, loved one, we don't need to be discouraged by our blindness.
SPEAKER_01: If that list is you this morning, don't be discouraged because look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready for this?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the text with me.
SPEAKER_01: It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but That the works of God might be displayed in him.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jesus wants to heal your blindness.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wants to change you.
SPEAKER_01: And in verses four to five, he explains that this is why he came to be the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: He came to shine in the darkness so that blind eyes might be opened.
SPEAKER_01: He is the answer to the prophecy we just read in Isaiah 42.
SPEAKER_01: By him blind eyes are opened.
SPEAKER_01: This is the work he came to the world to do.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 6 to 7, John shows us him doing exactly that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think we've read this story before.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there was no audible gasp when we read that Jesus spits on the ground.
SPEAKER_01: And he makes a mud out of spit.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there is no audible, like, oh, this is disgusting.
SPEAKER_01: He spreads it on the man's eyes and he sends him to the pool of Siloam.
SPEAKER_01: And this man is healed.
SPEAKER_01: You know, everything about this scene cries out the authority of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: First, he uses his saliva.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this was a thing that according to the Levitical law was unclean and unlawful.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, by spitting on the ground and touching it, shows that he is above the law.
SPEAKER_01: Then did you notice something interesting?
SPEAKER_01: In order to make the man see, he creates mud.
SPEAKER_01: Now, listen, you don't need to know much science to know that if you put mud on your eyes, you're gonna see worse than you did before you had the sight problem.
SPEAKER_01: You go to your optometrist and they behave like this, and you will think that you are being scammed, right?
SPEAKER_01: Mud doesn't help you see, mud blinds you, and yet Jesus, listen, Jesus is the king over physical matter.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he will use mud to make you see because he is the king of all things.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that he sends this man to the pool of Siloam, which means sent.
SPEAKER_01: Every detail John is pointing us to the same truth that this man is the light of the world who is breaking into our lives, who is breaking into your life, who is breaking into my life to do what?
SPEAKER_01: To give us sight.
SPEAKER_01: So let me ask you, do you have hope this morning?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you see your blindness, if you know how it's affecting your life, and right now you know you see the light of the world that is Jesus Christ, I want you to know you have hope.
SPEAKER_01: We are blind, but praise God, the light of the world shines to give sight.
SPEAKER_01: Now the story doesn't end here.
SPEAKER_01: If it ended here, it would be a real fairy tale story.
SPEAKER_01: That'd be nice.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus makes the mud, he heals the blind man, and yet it doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: It goes on and it only gets nastier, which brings us to our second point.
SPEAKER_01: Second thing I want you to see this morning is that the light shines to expose hearts.
SPEAKER_01: The light shines to expose hearts.
SPEAKER_01: What begins to happen and unfold in verses 8 to 34 is really one of the most sobering realities in John's gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The same light that opens one man's eyes then goes on to blind everyone else's.
SPEAKER_01: And in fact, as the story unfolds, the more the light shines, what we find is that the more that one that this one man worships, all the while, the more the others resist.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, soft hearts get softer and more aware of who Jesus is, and hard hearts get harder and more hardened to the work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This is what the light of Jesus always does.
SPEAKER_01: It exposes hearts.
SPEAKER_01: This is what the light of the world does.
SPEAKER_01: It is like the sun.
SPEAKER_01: The sun can melt wax, and yet it can harden clay.
SPEAKER_01: And so the question is not about the light.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, what kind of heart do you and I have this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Do we have a heart that embraces our blindness?
SPEAKER_01: And if we do, there is much hope for us and excitement because Jesus is here to shine light and give sight.
SPEAKER_01: Or do we have a heart that, like the Pharisees, is hardened and resistant and therefore will be hardened all the more?
SPEAKER_01: That's what makes this passage so serious.
SPEAKER_01: It exposes you and I and asks us: do we have a heart that will ultimately be softened in worship and loved one?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know that's the question this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Like when we sing this last song, is your heart having stood before the blazing glory of Jesus Christ for 40 minutes?
SPEAKER_01: No, like 45, we can be honest.
SPEAKER_01: 50, maybe.
SPEAKER_01: 50 minutes standing before the blazing glory of Jesus Christ with his word open before you will your heart be melted in worship.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the sad reality is that should make some of us weep is that it will not.
SPEAKER_01: You will stand indifferent.
SPEAKER_01: You will not care about the grace that we sing about.
SPEAKER_01: It hardens or it softens.
SPEAKER_01: We see that unfolding, how this light is exposing the human heart.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to notice in this passage three things the light exposes in the human heart.
SPEAKER_01: What we love most, what we fear most, and what we trust most.
SPEAKER_01: Notice how it exposes first what we love most.
SPEAKER_01: We see this in verses eight to seventeen.
SPEAKER_01: The neighbors cannot make sense of what happened.
SPEAKER_01: They've seen this man every day, the same street corner, the same bowl in his lap, and now he is standing before them with open eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Now look here at verse eight.
SPEAKER_01: 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?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, is this the doppelganger?
SPEAKER_01: Is this the what is going on here?
SPEAKER_01: The neighbors are trying to make sense.
SPEAKER_01: Some say yes, others say no.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, the man speaks up in the chaos, and in verse 9, he keeps saying, I am the man.
SPEAKER_01: It's unbelievable what the light of the world can do in a life that it's submitted to it.
SPEAKER_01: And it is such a simple testimony that the man has.
SPEAKER_01: There's no debate, there's no theology degree.
SPEAKER_01: Just, hey, listen, Jesus did this.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's no instructive for us, okay, as we evangelize.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has done this.
SPEAKER_01: But instead of celebrating, notice that the people around this man, look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, consider this for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Such a miracle of restoring sight has happened.
SPEAKER_01: And instead of celebrating and cheering in the streets and praising God, they bring him in like he's a convict.
SPEAKER_01: That's how resistant to grace they are.
SPEAKER_01: Now, verse 14 for the Pharisees gets really intense.
SPEAKER_01: If this was the Pharisee convention, there would be an audible gasp here because look at verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Now it was the Sabbath day.
SPEAKER_01: The Sabbath day.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And what John is doing here is like is trying to open our eyes to the how ridiculous it is.
SPEAKER_01: And here's a man who has been restored, his sight.
SPEAKER_01: And the Pharisees are so caught up in man-made religion, so blind to what's going on that they completely miss it.
SPEAKER_01: And that audible gap that we point towards the Pharisees, really, we should point inward now because you and I have the same blindness.
SPEAKER_01: We live with the same blindness.
SPEAKER_01: See, the Pharisees, they are less amazed by the miracle and more offended by the method.
SPEAKER_01: So that in verse 16, some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: Others pushed back.
SPEAKER_01: How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?
SPEAKER_01: And John tells us there was division among them.
SPEAKER_01: This is what the light does.
SPEAKER_01: The light divides and it exposes.
SPEAKER_01: The neighbors of this man, they just love normalcy.
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I mean, we love this in our neighborhoods, right?
SPEAKER_01: We want to drive out every morning and things are the same.
SPEAKER_01: Neighbors love normalcy.
SPEAKER_01: The Pharisees love rules, but but what is shocking here is nobody loves grace.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody loves healing.
SPEAKER_01: Certainly not enough to rejoice in it.
SPEAKER_01: And love, and I wonder where you are in the story this morning.
SPEAKER_01: When the light shines on you, what love is exposed?
SPEAKER_01: Do you celebrate the grace of forgiveness in Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_01: And following Jesus is not for the faint of heart.
SPEAKER_01: There are people who have told me that they couldn't become doctors because they don't like to see blood and they don't like to see bile and the messy, uncomfortable insides of the human body.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's interesting.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't become a doctor for different reasons.
SPEAKER_01: The one reason is just like math and science had probably killed a lot more people than I helped.
SPEAKER_01: But that is the reality, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: That if you're gonna be a doctor, you need to be okay with the messy insides.
SPEAKER_01: Then there's other people who like watching pimple popping videos on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: And the people who are laughing right now are the people who are watching it.
SPEAKER_01: So if there's someone beside you who laughed at the pimple popping, that they're a pimple popping video watcher, okay?
SPEAKER_01: A little Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Seuss there.
SPEAKER_01: That here's the reality.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you want to be a doctor, you need to get used to seeing the messy insides.
SPEAKER_01: And the same is true for the follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: When the light of Christ shines, it exposes what is inside.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, this isn't like the message that the world gives you that, like, oh, you just got to look inside yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I guess I mean I saw a message in there, I'm sure it's great for whatever four-year-olds are in that room in that daycare.
SPEAKER_01: It said, you are you.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_01: But underneath it, it said, you are beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I'm listening I'm a parent here, but we can be honest.
SPEAKER_01: Some, anyways, let's move on, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And it said, You are worthy, and you are enough.
SPEAKER_01: And the gospel hits us with this realism of like, sometimes we're just not enough.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we're just not worthy.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we crawl to Jesus, covered in the mud and muck of our own sin and bile.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus turns on the light, and we see we're covered in just the reality of what we love that is not Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Practically, here are some things you might see when the light of Jesus shines in your life.
SPEAKER_01: When you keep choosing comfort over obedience, when extra sleep, when more scrolling always beats out scripture or prayer, you have exposed in your heart what you love most.
SPEAKER_01: You love ease.
SPEAKER_01: When you cling to financial security instead of practicing sacrificial generosity, it exposes what you love most.
SPEAKER_01: You love control more than trust.
SPEAKER_01: When you are willing to compromise truth, to keep sin secret in order to keep a relationship intact.
SPEAKER_01: Excusing what God grieves, it exposes what you love most.
SPEAKER_01: You love acceptance more than you love holiness.
SPEAKER_01: When you're more concerned with the way that your spouse is serving you over the way that you are serving your spouse, you have exposed a love of self over a love of giving yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Loved one, I need you to know that if you come to Christ, your, I mean, this has been my life, and I trust your testimony has been the same, that your life will be like an onion.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus will peel it back layer after layer of sin that you did not know was there.
SPEAKER_01: The deeper I've walked in Jesus, the more dark I've seen, the depravity of my own soul, and seen sin that I've I never imagined was there.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because the physician loves to expose the sickness so that he can heal it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: The light will either heal or harden, but it will not leave you unchanged.
SPEAKER_01: Notice next how the light exposes what we fear most.
SPEAKER_01: You see it in verses 18 to 23.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 18 with me.
SPEAKER_01: You can put your eyes in the pages of scripture here.
SPEAKER_01: It says, The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight.
SPEAKER_01: The neighbors and the Pharisees, they can't disprove the miracle, and so they bring in the parents, and in verse 19, they ask him, Is this your son who was born blind?
SPEAKER_01: How then does he now see?
SPEAKER_01: Now the parents know exactly what's happened.
SPEAKER_01: They've lived with this boy's blindness all of his life, but instead of rejoicing in it, they're trying to run away from it.
SPEAKER_01: You notice that?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: We know that this is our son and that he was blind.
SPEAKER_01: That's all they say.
SPEAKER_01: They confirm the facts, but not the faith behind the facts.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: But now he sees.
SPEAKER_01: How he sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Now they absolutely know, they just won't say his name.
SPEAKER_01: John tells us this in verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: His parents said these things because they feared the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: So these parents were then comfortable to lie about who healed the boy.
SPEAKER_01: They're comfortable to push out the boy into these group of Pharisees who obviously are very hostile towards those who stand with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And the question is, why?
SPEAKER_01: You see that word there.
SPEAKER_01: They feared the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: They'd rather belong to community than stand with Christ and ultimately their son.
SPEAKER_01: And so their conclusion is tragic in verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, his parents said, He's of age, ask him.
SPEAKER_01: They pass the responsibility back to their son.
SPEAKER_01: They protect themselves, but not him.
SPEAKER_01: And where might the light of Jesus Christ be shining on your life right now to expose the fear that is there?
SPEAKER_01: You know, when we stay silent about our faith, unwilling to evangelize because of the fear of rejection.
SPEAKER_01: That's fear.
SPEAKER_01: And when your actions are driven by what others think of you, listen, I'm preaching to myself right now, rather than what God thinks.
SPEAKER_01: That's the fear of man.
SPEAKER_01: And time and time again in your life with Jesus, it will be exposed as you come to him again and confess that you have been more worried about what people think than what he thinks.
SPEAKER_01: And you hesitate to obey Jesus and do what you know is right because of the cost of maybe the time or relationship or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: That is the fear that Jesus confronts and exposes when his light shines in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Loved one, you you understand it.
SPEAKER_01: As those who, if the Holy Spirit is working right now, are having our fears exposed.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to understand that Jesus didn't come to leave us enslaved to our fear, and he didn't come to shame us in our fear.
SPEAKER_01: He came to set us free from fear.
SPEAKER_01: This is what John says elsewhere.
SPEAKER_01: Standing by the fire in the courtyard, the one who had boldly told Jesus, I will never deny you, now stands trembling before a servant girl who has asked if he knows Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's overwhelmed with fear.
SPEAKER_01: But after the resurrection, after light has shone into Peter's life, after he has experienced the power of forgiveness, that same man stands before the Sanhedrin and boldly declares, no matter the consequence, we must obey God rather than men.
SPEAKER_01: That is what the light of Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: It exposes fear this morning, not for shame, but for freedom.
SPEAKER_01: And the question for you and I is when Jesus exposes this fear, will it let you drive, will you let it drive you to Christ or drive you away from him?
SPEAKER_01: A loved one, let me let me just say that as you're a pastor, as I look around this room and know that many of you right now are facing your greatest fears, it does not shock me.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: Because God loves to expose this fear in your heart so that there's this sort of testing place, this wilderness where you have only two ways to go.
SPEAKER_01: Either you press deeply into Jesus Christ with this adrenaline you wouldn't otherwise have, or you run away.
SPEAKER_01: Love one, what are you gonna do this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Press into him.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, notice how the light exposes what we trust most.
SPEAKER_01: You see it in verses 24 to 20 to 34.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 24 with me.
SPEAKER_01: So for a second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, Give glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: We know this man's a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: Now the Pharisees have already decided.
SPEAKER_01: They've already decided the verdict.
SPEAKER_01: They don't want truth.
SPEAKER_01: What they want is this man's compliance.
SPEAKER_01: And so they invoke this religious language, oh, give glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: But what they really mean is, hey, listen, you better agree with us, alright?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 25, the man replies with one of the simplest and strongest testimonies in Scripture, which I pray is your testimony this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Whether he is a sinner, I do not know.
SPEAKER_01: One thing I do know that though I was blind, now I see.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, listen, it doesn't, no argument can undo what Jesus Christ has done in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know all the theology.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, what this blind man does is makes a pretty weak theological argument that God doesn't listen to the prayers of sinners.
SPEAKER_01: You don't need to know much of scripture to know that that's not true, that God will forgive sin and listen to the prayers of sinners.
SPEAKER_01: And so, like this man sort of showing us his cars, he doesn't know much theology, but listen, that he's had this transformative experience in his life that is now shining light onto all these people.
SPEAKER_01: Though I was blind, now I see.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't have the answers.
SPEAKER_01: He has the evidence, and the evidence is his own changed life, so that in verse 26 they press into him again.
SPEAKER_01: What did he do to you?
SPEAKER_01: How did you he open your eyes?
SPEAKER_01: And I love that this man grows bolder in verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: I have told you already, and you would not listen.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you want to hear it again?
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to become disciples of this man?
SPEAKER_01: He's growing this boldness that can only come from the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And we are seeing this transformation happen that happens in the life of every believer as they behold the glory of Christ and are transformed from one degree of glory to another, Paul tells us.
SPEAKER_01: They grow into this boldness so that now this man is willing to go toe-to-toe with religious power.
SPEAKER_01: You see, what has happened in this man's life is that the light has exposed where his trust lies.
SPEAKER_01: It's no longer in safety, it's no longer in his reputation, but it is in the one who has opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 28, they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
SPEAKER_01: There it is.
SPEAKER_01: All the cards are on the table.
SPEAKER_01: The contrast of trusts.
SPEAKER_01: These Pharisees, they trust their heritage, they trust their system, they trust their moral record.
SPEAKER_01: This blind man trusts the man who gave him sight.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, that's the contrast for us today.
SPEAKER_01: There are all sorts of things that you can trust in this world.
SPEAKER_01: There are good things.
SPEAKER_01: There's your financial portfolio.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've built wealth for myself.
SPEAKER_01: There's your moral standing.
SPEAKER_01: I have done good things.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a good person.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the day, none of it matters.
SPEAKER_01: The question is this do you trust experientially?
SPEAKER_01: Has this happened in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Do you trust the man who gave you sight?
SPEAKER_01: Can you look to a time in your life where everything changed?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing is the same after that day.
SPEAKER_01: And do you live in an ongoing trust of the man who changed everything?
SPEAKER_01: Where's your trust?
SPEAKER_01: There's one kind of trust that leaves you in the dark.
SPEAKER_01: There's another kind of trust that brings you to your knees in worship.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 30, the man answers, Why?
SPEAKER_01: This is an amazing thing.
SPEAKER_01: You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
SPEAKER_01: His faith keeps growing and growing, and their hearts keep hardening and hardening.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 34, they answered him, You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?
SPEAKER_01: And they cast him out.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the the light has done its final exposing.
SPEAKER_01: The man who truly Sees is thrown out by those who think they see.
SPEAKER_01: And now we come to the end of the story, and it ends where all seeing must end in a response.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I want you to see thirdly.
SPEAKER_01: The light shines to demand response.
SPEAKER_01: The same light that gave sight to this man now stands before him again in verse 35, not to open up his physical eyes, but to claim the worship of his life.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love this verse.
SPEAKER_01: You see it?
SPEAKER_01: Read it there with me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus heard that they cast him out, and having found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?
SPEAKER_01: Love one, you can be have been cast out by the world, by your family, by those who have loved you most.
SPEAKER_01: But if your Savior is Jesus Christ, he is the one who sought you out.
SPEAKER_01: I love that about the story.
SPEAKER_01: The blind man does not seek Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Did you notice that?
SPEAKER_01: It is Jesus who reaches out again and again to him.
SPEAKER_01: And is that not the story of our lives?
SPEAKER_01: That in our waywardness, Jesus is reaching out to us.
SPEAKER_01: That is all of our stories.
SPEAKER_01: The world casts us out.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus comes to find us and he's doing that today.
SPEAKER_01: Look how personal this question is.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe in the Son of Man?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't ask us this morning, do you understand everything?
SPEAKER_01: You got your theology right?
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't ask us, you know, have you figured it all out?
SPEAKER_01: You got all the questions answered?
SPEAKER_01: He asked us this question simply, do you believe?
SPEAKER_01: To which the man answers, Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.
SPEAKER_01: And the man replies, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him.
SPEAKER_01: Notice this: the light demands a response of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: This is what the light always does.
SPEAKER_01: It brings you face to face with Jesus and asks for your trust.
SPEAKER_01: Now, notice that in the text, this man has had a transformational movement to this moment.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 11, he said that Jesus was the man they called Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 17, he said, he is a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 33, he said, if this man were not from God, he can do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And now, finally, climaxing in this moment, he says, Lord, I believe.
SPEAKER_01: This is the journey that every one of us must take.
SPEAKER_01: It is not enough to respect Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It is not enough simply to know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It is not enough to admire him.
SPEAKER_01: It is not enough to agree with him.
SPEAKER_01: You must believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: You must believe that he is the only one who can open blind eyes, that he is the only one who can give life to the soul.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe this morning that is your step.
SPEAKER_01: For the very first time, you need to say, I've been blind my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I've been around Jesus, but I've never been healed by him.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, the moment you reach out your hand to sit to him and say, Lord, I believe, sight floods into your eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what the light is asking of you today.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to notice also, though, that the light demands a responsive worship.
SPEAKER_01: For those who have already believed, the story's calling us to respond because a sight of Jesus always leads us to true worship.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Paul says in Philippians that when we see Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord.
SPEAKER_01: When this man believes, he has nothing to do but to simply bow and worship.
SPEAKER_01: His whole story has been moving from blindness to belief, from darkness to devotion.
SPEAKER_01: The light has done its work, and the only fitting response is to worship the one who opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: They saw the same miracle.
SPEAKER_01: And yet it hardened their hearts.
SPEAKER_01: The healed man saw the light and fell to his knees.
SPEAKER_01: That same light that softens one heart hardens another.
SPEAKER_01: And the difference isn't the light, it is the heart.
SPEAKER_01: And so the question that remains is not, will you respond?
SPEAKER_01: Loved one, the question that remains this morning is how will you respond?
SPEAKER_01: That light is still shining, and for some of you, that light is exposing sin that needs to be confessed this morning.
SPEAKER_01: For others, that light is shining and reminding you that grace has already found you.
SPEAKER_01: But for all of us, this light is shining this morning, and it is inviting us to do what this man did, to fall at the feet of Jesus and worship.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to invite the worship team up right now as we respond in, I think, a very significant way to this, these words, and sing this familiar song, Amazing Grace.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe this morning you respond in a way that, you know, this isn't just a song.
SPEAKER_01: This is your story that once we were blind, that now we see, that once we were lost, but now we've been found.
SPEAKER_01: Would you stand with me this morning and sing?
SPEAKER_01: Singing not just as a song we know, but a song that we are confessing together.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for the light that has come into the world.
SPEAKER_01: God is it is the light that not only exposes our sin uncomfortably, but heals our sin eternally.
SPEAKER_01: And we praise your name.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, we confess that apart from you we cannot see.
SPEAKER_01: And so we pray, even in this moment, by your Holy Spirit, as we sing this song, would you open our eyes again to behold your beauty, to trust you, to love you.
SPEAKER_01: God, where your light has revealed our sin, I pray for true repentance.
SPEAKER_01: And where your light has revealed our fear, I pray for freedom from the shackles of what binds us.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray right now for a spirit of true worship as we sing together, as our hearts cry out that we were once blind, but now we see.
SPEAKER_01: And we join our voice to this man, declaring, Lord, we believe and worshiping.
SPEAKER_01: But hear our worship this morning, we pray in your name.
unknown: Amen.