WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.800 Well, welcome. 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:02.799 We're in our fourth week of Lent. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.879 Lent are the days leading up to Good Friday and Easter. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:09.199 Our text is about light and darkness. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:11.679 It's about blindness and sight. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:16.000 Our first point is that we do not achieve or cause sight. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:18.800 Jesus gives us eyes to see. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.039 Now, our blindness is not physical. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:24.640 This story is a metaphor for us to learn from. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:31.280 It's a miracle for us to learn about our own spiritual blindness, a confusion that we have. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:38.799 It's our lack of perception about what is true about life, what's true about ourselves, and about God. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:40.719 Let's jump back in in verse 4. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.079 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:46.320 Night is coming when no one can work. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:50.000 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.840 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:59.679 Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.119 So he went and washed and came back seen. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:06.480 So the disciples asked that question: Who sinned, this man or his parents? 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:07.439 Who messed up? 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:08.879 Something bad happened. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.280 Somebody must have messed up. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.879 And Jesus has nothing to do with this line of thinking. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.000 The man's blindness has nothing to do with a moral failure. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:23.599 And when the man receives sight, it has nothing to do with him earning it or accomplishing it. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:27.200 The blind man contributes nothing to the miracle. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:29.680 It's Jesus that initiates the healing. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:31.760 Sight is given. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:34.319 It's only received by the man. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:39.840 When our girls were little, we would read the book just because you're mine, this book. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.719 Now my girls are older, but when they're little, we read this book every night. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:43.519 I love this book. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:48.319 This little squirrel keeps asking his dad, hey, do you love me because I'm fast? 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:49.680 Do you love me because I'm smart? 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:51.920 Do you love me because I gather acorns? 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.799 And this picture, I think he's he's jumping one branch to the next, and he's he's saying, you know, Dad, do you love me? 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:57.599 Look how brave I am. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:59.040 Do you love me because I'm brave? 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:04.239 And the dad keeps saying over and over and over again, no, that's not why I love you. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:05.760 That's not why I love you. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:07.359 That's not why I love you. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:11.280 I love you just because you're mine. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:15.919 Not because you've done something impressive, just because you're mine. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.199 That's very close to what's going on in John 9. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:27.919 The blind man had done nothing to deserve the blindness, but he also had done nothing to deserve the healing. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:30.080 Jesus moved toward him first. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:31.759 The man simply receives. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.319 Now the Pharisees in the chapter, they're struggling with this. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:35.199 They want to do something. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.479 You should have to do something to get this kind of love from God. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.240 You should have to be moral or religious enough. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:46.319 But Jesus shows the opposite that true sight is something that's given. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:55.120 So we could say it this way: the gospel is not Jesus saying, if you see clearly enough, then I will love you. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:03.039 No, the gospel is Jesus saying, I will give you sight, I will help you just because you're mine. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.719 Notice the blind man doesn't go looking for Jesus. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:10.240 It's a little bit of a joke that the blind man doesn't go looking for Jesus. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:11.840 I know, it's a stretch. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:17.759 Not only can he not go look for Jesus, he couldn't go look for Jesus. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:19.759 Like he doesn't have the ability to. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.280 Jesus comes and looks and finds him. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:32.879 See, long before you were engaged toward Jesus, interested, pursuing, loving, Jesus was pursuing you. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:38.800 His pursuit of you is the very thing that empowered you to love him, or serve him, or pursue him. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:46.000 Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 4, 5 through 6, continuing in this language of darkness and light. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:52.000 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:55.439 Worth ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:05.280 For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge, the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:11.039 In this John 9 story, we see this progress occur with this blind man. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:18.480 At first, right after he's healed, he calls Jesus Jesus, and then he calls Jesus prophet, and then he calls Jesus Lord later in the story. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:20.160 And that's what grace does. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:27.680 That's what grace does in us is it transforms us as the Holy Spirit's working in us. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:36.800 Grace doesn't just stop at the moment of giving you salvation and you becoming a Christian, it keeps teaching us how to see. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:42.560 Here's how Paul explains it in Ephesians 5, 1 and 2. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.839 Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:51.279 Okay, because we're beloved children, we should imitate God. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:55.759 Verse 2, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:59.360 A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:03.360 Point number two is this as dearly loved children, we walk in the way of love. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.000 In that verse 1 in Ephesians 5, the word therefore is there. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:11.680 So in the scriptures, whenever therefore is there, we ask, why is it therefore? 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:20.240 Well, it's there because Paul's setting up a framework for us in this passage, but also in all of Paul's teachings in the New Testament. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:21.759 We talk about it often. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:27.920 It's the very thing that can transform us from being guilt-driven religious people, judgmental, self-righteous. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:29.519 When you're doing great, you feel great. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:31.600 When you're doing horrible, you feel horrible. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:44.000 A move out of that insecurity, spiritual anxiety, over into a gospel, grace-centered, your free and your growing way of faith. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:46.639 Here's how Paul sets up Christian living. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:51.120 Paul says that we live imperatives through the indicatives. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:55.040 Okay, we just look in the Ephesians 5 passage, right? 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:56.560 Walk in love, verse 2. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:57.680 Okay, that's an imperative. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:58.240 You should do this. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:05:59.279 Love other people. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:00.560 Well, how do we do that? 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:04.079 Well, we live it through the indicative, as dearly loved children. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:07.839 You're already loved, out of that we go to love. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:13.759 Meaning how we should live is fueled by what is already true about us, what's been indicated to us. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.120 Who we are fuels how we live. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:28.000 That word beloved in verse 1, beloved children is the Greek word agapatos, which means esteemed, dear, favorite, worthy of love. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:33.439 You are that to God because Jesus is saying you are that. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:35.360 It's indicated to you. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:39.680 I was out of town for a few days last week on a pastor's retreat. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:42.639 Two nights, three days, come back in that third day now. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:51.839 In the old days when the girls were little, when I came back in town, there'd be a sign on the fence and they'd draw stuff, and they're waiting. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:52.800 Nobody's waiting. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.240 Just pulling the driveway. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.800 Nobody's where is everybody? 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:57.600 Don't know. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:06:58.959 I have to go hunt them down. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:01.040 They got their own lives going on. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.800 But I'm gonna go to each one and I'm gonna go and I'm gonna hug them. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:06.160 I'm gonna hug each one. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:09.040 A hug is going to come at them. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.199 It will not be their choice. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:13.600 I will hug. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:18.879 And that embrace is not based on how well they did the two days while I was gone. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:20.399 Don't even ask about that. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:21.920 They're gonna get a hug. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:23.439 I make them hug me. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:28.000 My love comes at them, and I'm an imperfect father. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:29.680 How much more? 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:39.600 How much more does the love of God come at you even before you serve Him, even while you're blind, and you don't see something that's true about yourself? 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:42.720 You don't see some area of weakness, some area of sin. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:49.600 Even while you don't fully understand how much God loves you, how much more does this God love you and come at you? 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:53.360 We are his dearly loved children. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:08:01.040 Brendan Manning, author of Abba's Child, he writes this: Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:02.720 This is the true self. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:04.959 Every other identity is illusion. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:07.199 Am I a pastor? 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:09.120 Are you an accountant? 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:11.360 Are you a teacher? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.720 Are you just a mom, just a dad? 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.720 Or are you something much more profound? 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.000 Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:23.519 That's who you are. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:33.120 Paul says in Ephesians 5, to be followers of God's example as dearly loved children. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.440 That verse 1, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:43.840 What Paul's addressing here in Ephesians 5 is as the heavenly father's sons and daughters, how should we live? 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.080 How now do we live? 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:52.720 And walk in love as Christ loved us, gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering, sacrifice. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:55.759 Now I've got this little four-month-old puppy I've been telling y'all about. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.240 This is Brock, little Brock Bowers. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:02.799 And so, little Brock Bowers, I am trying to love him. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:05.200 I am trying to love him. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:08.720 And he pees all over my floors. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.440 I turned my back and he has a shoe. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.519 He has eight bones on the floor, but he wants a shoe. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.000 This week I was walking across my backyard. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:19.200 I'd finished some yard work. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:22.399 It looked so nice and tidy, looked beautiful, fresh mulch, everything. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:29.519 I was just walking through, enjoying the spring weather, looking at my hydrangeas, and a shark latched onto my right leg. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.840 I looked down and he is clamped on my Achilles. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:38.240 This is this is the puppy that I walk. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:45.120 I physically get him out of his crate at night to take him out to go pee in the yard. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:46.399 I bathe him. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:51.120 I have found him in pools of his own urine in the crate and I bathe him. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:55.679 I feed him and he he bites me. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:56.799 My legs. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:00.480 I told Chris yesterday if I was on a blood thinner, I'd bled out. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.720 My legs are all marked up. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:09.679 I mean, what a wonderful and horrible calling to love another person. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:12.960 Because the puppy is mean. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.320 Because your mother and your brother, not your family, but like other families. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.960 I'm not talking about y'all, heaven forbid. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:22.720 Impossible. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.039 Family members can be impossible. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:27.519 Your friend can disappoint you. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:31.279 I mean, how do we love in a world where it's so hard to love? 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:34.960 And Paul says, Well, we we love like Jesus. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:38.240 We love as Christ first loved us, which is lavish. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:40.960 It's not based on our resume. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:45.360 It's just one way, which means that it's sacrificial. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:50.399 Like for me to love this puppy or to love another person, it's gonna be sacrificial. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:55.120 For somebody to love me, it's gonna be sacrificial. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:02.320 But as dearly loved children, it's indicated to you we can love other people. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:05.039 Now that chapter goes on in Ephesians 5. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.679 As you're beginning to see this, you see your love. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:09.440 Okay, I can see I can love somebody else. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:15.759 I don't have to be so self-righteous and judgmental upon them because I receive love, I didn't cause it, so I have no judgment over other people. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:16.480 I'll love them. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:20.639 And then as well, you also begin to see that sin is destructive. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:28.320 And so that's why the rest of this Ephesians 5 is about the destructiveness of sin, but also the way of holiness. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:30.480 Because you've seen some things now. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:32.960 You've seen that lust and greed and selfishness. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:35.279 Yeah, it just always ends up in destruction. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:36.159 And you've seen it. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.320 So now you begin to live like, Lord, help me. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:40.000 Lord, forgive me of that. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:41.360 God, help me. 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:47.200 Forgive me of that thought and that thing, and forgive me of that, and help me here, and help me here, and help me here, help me to see. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:58.480 Ephesians 5, we could summarize it this way: Because we are so dearly loved by God, we walk in love toward others and godliness. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:06.000 And it all comes out, it's all fueled by this secure, one-way love we have from Jesus. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:22.240 After Jesus heals that man in John 9, and the neighbors bring the blind guy who can now see to the Pharisees, these religious guys, it should have been a celebration, but they don't believe the story, so they start to investigate why this happened, when this happened, oh, and now they think they didn't get Jesus healing on the Sabbath. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:25.519 That gets them all excited, maybe get this Jesus in trouble. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:32.559 So, what should have been a celebration for a man's sight, it turns into this investigation. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:38.159 That the people who should be seeing, they don't see anything correctly. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:45.759 Verse 17, so they said again to the blind man, Why do what do you say about him since he has opened your eyes? 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:47.679 He said he's a prophet. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:58.559 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? 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:00.000 How then does he now see? 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:01.279 And the parents confirm it. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.559 The parents say, Yeah, he this is my son, and he was blind. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:05.840 Beyond that, you gotta talk to him. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.360 Because they didn't want to get kicked out of the synagogues. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.080 They're like, hey, you gotta, they're just like skirting the issue. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:13.279 I don't want to get involved in this, don't pull me in. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:15.440 They were afraid. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:18.159 So the parents answer, he's of age, ask him. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.960 So the leaders call the guy back in again. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:22.240 Pressure increases. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:24.879 They're trying to force him to denounce this Jesus. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:31.759 And so, verse 24, so for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, Give glory to God. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:33.679 We know that this man is a sinner. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.600 This Jesus is a sinner. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:41.440 And then the blind man who now sees, he answered, Whether he's a sinner, I do not know. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:45.679 One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.840 The leaders keep questioning him, How do you open your eyes? 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:48.399 How do you do this? 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.159 He's like, I've already told you. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:54.480 All I know is I couldn't see, and then this guy helped me see. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:58.159 And the irony is striking. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:07.519 Because the man who couldn't see can now see, and the people who are supposed to be seeing correctly, the religious people, they can't see anything. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:14.480 And Jesus then goes on to explain this miracle, what it's all about, because it's not just about eyesight, it's about spiritual sight. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:16.000 Verse 39. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:24.639 Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:30.320 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind? 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.159 Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no guilt. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.279 But now that you say we see, your guilt remains. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:39.919 And point number three is this paradox that we see. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:46.240 It's a gospel paradox that when you see you are blind, you are ready to receive help from God. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:47.919 Right? 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:57.279 It's only when you see you are in need that you receive salvation, forgiveness of your sins, a life with Jesus, to be God's son or daughter. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:03.120 And then you begin to live a life where you see you don't see everything. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:04.720 That God, I need your help. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.240 Help me understand this, help me see this. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:08.480 There's no way I can understand all this, no way I see all this. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:09.360 I don't know how to move ahead. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:10.480 I don't have control. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:12.159 Help me see. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:14.000 I need you, help me. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:18.720 In the sixth grade, I got glasses, seventh grade, I got contacts. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:20.399 I work, I hated wearing glasses. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.759 I wore contacts all the time, probably 20 hours a day, all the way through college. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:25.840 My eyes are so burned out. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:27.919 So my eyes are hurting. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:28.960 I hated glasses. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:38.960 So finally I get out of seminary, Christy and I are engaged, I have a net worth of$8,000, and I go into the LASIK surgeon, and it's gonna be$2,400. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.600 Net worth$8,000,$2,400. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:43.919 And I'm like, I don't care, sign me up. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:45.200 Like, I'm tired of this. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:57.279 So the next week I'm in the chair, it's in a glassroom in a doctor's office, big kind of machine, and the doctor says, hey, we're gonna put this thing down, and we're gonna put a thing on top of your eyeball, it's gonna suck your eyeball out. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:00.559 And when we suck your eyeball out, you're gonna go blind. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:03.279 First time it's ever happened in my life. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:04.399 I don't know if it's ever happened in you. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:10.720 I've been in dark rooms, but I've never had my eyes open and not see and been blind. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:15.759 Sure enough, suction cup, pull the eyeball out, a lot of pressure, go completely. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:19.759 I couldn't see the reality in front of me. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:23.120 I couldn't see what was true. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.639 Doctor, big machine, doctors. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.120 I couldn't, I couldn't see it. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.960 And then finally they plop the eyeball back in there, and I could see again. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:40.960 But I'll always remember that blindness to have your eyes open and yet not be able to see the reality in front of you. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:43.279 This is what Jesus is talking about. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:46.960 That there's there's all sorts of people, all kinds of people. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:52.159 Religious people, non-religious people, walking around, and they don't even see it. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.720 They don't even see that they need help. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:00.480 That it's never gonna be about how good you are, it's never gonna be about causing or achieving. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:03.919 It's always gonna be about receiving. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:13.519 Jesus is saying that we are spiritually blind and that our sight comes from when we receive from Him. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:16.720 That we can see the reality in front of us. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:20.720 Who we are, who God is for us, what the world's like. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:24.000 When you think you see, you're blind. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.799 But if you realize that you can't see, now you're ready. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:32.000 Now you're ready to begin to receive from God. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:35.519 Understanding you're blind is the beginning. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.000 The beginning of the beginning to see. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.440 If you have any questions about the sermon, I'll be down front afterwards. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:43.359 Love to talk to you and pray with you. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:44.400 Let's pray together. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:52.720 Heavenly Father, we thank you that you do not leave us blind, and while we could not look for you and we could not, we didn't have the power to look for you. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:54.480 You came toward us. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:58.960 Even this morning, you're coming toward some of your children. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:22.960 God, we pray for those of us who have never seen you clearly that this morning we would see that you are not a condemning policeman in disguise, but you are a loving Heavenly Father, and that Jesus is enough for all the forgiveness we need and all the righteousness we need and all the security we need as your sons and your daughters. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:29.759 For those of us that have spiritual blindness in different areas of our lives, would you give us eyes to see? 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.119 Help us to see. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:36.400 Increase our awareness of the areas of our lives that we have not surrendered to you. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:43.920 And help us have our hands open wide, our hearts open wide to say, shine your light where you desire and have your way. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:46.000 Help us to be receivers. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:49.279 And will we trust Jesus more this morning? 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:50.720 In Christ's name we pray. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:51.519 Amen.