WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:04.959 I know you wanted her just to keep reading and reading all that whole passage. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:10.080 And you saw it when you walked in, and you're like, oh good gracious, we're gonna be standing for a long time. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:18.000 So growing up, there was this neighboring high school from the high school that I went to called Brookwood High School, which is where Sam went. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.320 He almost didn't get the job because he went there. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:23.199 I know a couple of few of you went there. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:26.719 Um I don't know if you want to come clean and go ahead and raise your hand. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.480 Uh Katie Clark went there, I know that. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.480 Don't know if she's in here, I know she went to Brookwood. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:39.359 And I so I went to Central Gwinnett, and this is a typical storyline wherever you went to high school and you have neighboring high schools or whatever, wherever you went to college and you have another college or whatever. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:48.240 I love Sam now, but when I was 17, I would not have loved Sam because he went to because he went to Brookwood, and it was so clear to us. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:49.520 It was so clear to us. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:56.320 People from Brookwood were rich and snobby and horrible people, just horrible, horrible. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:00.399 They were so different, so different from us, right? 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:02.240 Maybe you know what I'm talking about. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.359 And every once in a while we had to drive over there, you know, like three car garages. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:12.319 We only had two car garages wherever I went to high school, you know, so different, like just a horrible, horrible place. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:36.400 And we had to drive over there, and they hosted the Summer League uh Basketball League, and so we had to drive over there all the time during the summer, and it was only like five or six high schools played in the summer league, and so we're playing each other over and over again, and we would have to play Brookwood High School over and over again throughout the summer, and there's just this one guy, one guy, Jeremy Fink, F-I-N-K, Jeremy Fink. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:41.680 We just couldn't stand that Jeremy Fink, just couldn't stand, and it didn't help that he was good, right? 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:42.879 Like that doesn't help. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:45.920 And oh, we just couldn't, and then the worst thing happened. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.200 The worst thing happened. 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:54.480 Our girls, Colleen and Jen, our girls became friends with Jeremy Fink. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:57.680 We could not believe it. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:58.719 What is going on? 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:00.640 Our world is falling apart. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:02.719 And then you know what happened, right? 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:05.760 One night we end up hanging out with Jeremy Fink. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:07.840 You know what happened? 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:09.360 We liked him. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:12.159 We liked him. 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:15.520 Oh, we liked Jeremy Fink. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:17.360 We liked Brookwood. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.280 He was just like us. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:23.840 The others. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:25.919 The others were just like us. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:26.479 Right? 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:36.080 Like in our defensiveness, we got we like to other ize other people, and then you get to know them, and Jeremy Fink is just like you, and we liked him. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:38.000 Unbelievable, unbelievable. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:39.520 We didn't know how to categorize that. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:41.919 As a 17-year-old, you know how to categorize that. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:45.759 But we love to otherise them. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:47.919 Whoever them is, right? 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:48.879 Whoever them is. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.520 Just I couldn't possibly be like her. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:56.159 I couldn't possibly be like him. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:07.439 They are nothing like us, and oh, and then the other side, we are nothing like them, and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, the one you hated, you get to know, and all of a sudden, oh, oh wow. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:12.639 Like like she's my sister, she he's my brother, like we're the same. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:24.400 But you know what, you know what I'm talking about because you have a Brookwood, and if you were Brookwood, you have a whatever, and you have a whatever, you went to Auburn, you have Georgia, if you're a Republican, you have a Democrat, if you have a Democrat, you have a Republican, right? 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:29.280 And then you get to know somebody, you're like, oh, oh my gosh, like we're actually really, really alike. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.800 And I mention all of that because this is what's going on in this passage. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:41.360 These these uh religious folks stroll up on this beggar, this blind guy, and they have already categorized him. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:49.360 They have already decided what he is and who he is and where he came from and what he must be like, and what he must have done, or what his parents must have done. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:55.759 And so in John 9, verses 1 and 2, Jesus walking along, he's got his disciples, they're they're cruising through. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.319 We don't know everything about this blind beggar. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:07.039 We don't know a lot, uh, but we know how disabled people were treated in that society, and that's that they were outcasts. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:09.360 Something was wrong with them. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:12.639 So push them to the sides, get them out of the way. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:26.399 They became beggars, you know, they weren't picked first in gym class, they weren't they weren't picked for trivial pursuit, which by the way, uh last week I was playing the memory card game of Peppa Pig with my four-year-old. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:28.319 She beat me, she beat me. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:32.480 Legitimately, I was trying, full-on trying. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:33.439 She beat me. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:35.600 That's a side note, just a side note. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:42.959 So I'm I'm in that outcast of not getting picked for trivial pursuit or Peppa Pig card game, and we know that feeling of the outcast. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:50.240 So we can sort of go, like, yeah, I kind of know what this guy's feeling like, but these guys are cruising in and they've decided. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:57.519 They already have in their minds, based on their society and their upbringing, they know who this guy is and what must be the truth about him. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:07.759 And this poor guy, he is beaten down from his entire life because he's born blind, which means something's wrong with him or something's wrong with his family. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.040 And so Jesus' disciples, the closest folks to him, said, Hey, hey, who sinned? 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:13.839 Who sinned? 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:14.800 Who caused this? 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:15.680 Did he do it? 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:16.639 He did it, right? 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:17.759 It had to have been him. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.720 Oh, if it wasn't him, it had to be his parents. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:22.639 Something had to happen. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:23.199 Right? 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:25.040 And this reveals the belief. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:32.000 This reveals the belief they hold somebody had to be bad for this suffering. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:36.000 Because no way this just stuff happens. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:36.959 Right? 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:39.360 I mean, no way good people suffer. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:40.319 No way. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:45.600 And Jesus doesn't give it like a direct answer, like a full explanation. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:48.959 This would be the moment we were like, Jesus, would you have pleased laid it out for us? 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:55.920 Even in 2017 in Marietta, Georgia, could you have laid it out clearly so that my suffering would make sense? 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:57.519 That would have been nice, but he doesn't. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:58.560 He doesn't do that. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.040 This painful, difficult issue. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:05.600 Why did that suffering, that hurt, that wound, why'd that happen in my life? 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:06.879 Why is it happening in my life? 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:09.199 Why is it happening in my friend's life, my family's life? 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:10.000 Why is that going up? 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:10.319 Why? 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:11.920 And he doesn't give us all the answers. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:24.480 He just says, hey, it wasn't his sin, it wasn't his parents' sin, and then he sort of has this overarching big theme, and he says, God will be glorified in the curing of this man's blindness. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:34.480 So that's a recognition of God's reign over all of this, which may help or may not help, and you're given suffering. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:46.399 I mean, that's something I think I've struggled with for the past 20 years of life and suffering and 15 years of in ministry of hearing about suffering pretty much on a day-to-day basis, hearing a horrible story. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.120 And going, man, I don't get it. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:50.160 I still don't get it. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:51.279 I still don't get it. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:59.920 But here's what I do get coming out of this story, based on what Jesus said to his disciples, point number one, your suffering is not God getting you back. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.519 Your suffering is not God getting you back. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.399 Now, in the Old Testament, yes, we're seeing that. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:17.759 We're gonna see like God zapping some people, some people messing up, people are getting zapped, that just wrath of God, that we see that in the Old Testament. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:30.000 But after the death of Jesus, where that wrath is absorbed into Jesus, where God says, I'm gonna take that upon myself so that my relationship to you is a gracious, loving one. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:32.639 We don't categorically see this in the New Testament. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:42.480 We have a strange story in Acts chapter 5, and you can read it later, a strange story where somebody doesn't live up to their vow and they fall dead, and I don't know how to place that, to be honest. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:45.360 I still don't know how to place that, I'm still not sure what happened. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:46.959 So that's a strange story in there. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:52.079 But categorically in the New Testament, we don't see God getting people back with suffering. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:58.639 We see him using suffering, we see him uh disciplining, but but that's out of love. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:00.800 That's not like, oh, you messed up. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:02.399 I'm coming after you. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:04.879 I'm disappointed, I'm coming after you. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:08.879 We don't see that sort of heart from God. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.079 See, these guys are moralizing suffering. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:13.120 That's what this would be called. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:14.800 They're moralizing suffering. 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:20.399 Moralizing suffering is kind of like you go to adopt that golden retriever. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:26.720 And it's the cutest, it's a two-year-old, it's the cutest golden retriever you have ever seen. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:40.879 And in your mind, it's gonna be cuddles, and it's gonna be, you know, fetch, it's gonna be wonderful, and you don't realize those two first two years of that golden retriever's life, and that golden retriever bites you. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:42.720 That's what moralizing suffering is. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:49.600 It's the golden retriever on the front side that you think is gonna be so wonderful, and it ends up biting you. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:50.159 Right? 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.639 That's what prosperity gospel is, right? 00:08:52.720 --> 00:09:01.279 Because here's how it plays out your future, your health, your wealth is dependent upon your faith and how good you are. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.320 Okay, so on the front side, golden retriever. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:05.200 Sounds great. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:05.840 Sounds great. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:10.000 So I just got okay, so I'll do these things, and then I'm gonna get all this. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:10.559 All right. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.159 Sounds like I can be in control too. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:14.879 I can kind of be God in this, and it can raise some money, by the way. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.240 You can raise a lot of money with that message, and people do, a lot of money. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.399 You can raise a lot of money, and you can motivate a lot of behavioral good. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.799 Not necessarily heart, but you can you can get a lot of behaviors out of that. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:34.240 But are you gonna tell that rubbish to the four million people in southern Sudan who are starving today? 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:37.840 Are you are you are you gonna tell them that? 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:44.720 That there's starvation, four million people starving today in southern Sudan? 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:50.080 You're gonna tell them that because they haven't been good or faithful? 00:09:52.799 --> 00:10:02.720 I mean, are you gonna tell that rubbish to our to our friend who has MS, and then her child dies, and then she just had to shave her head because of the medicine she's taking? 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:06.559 Are you gonna tell her it's because she hadn't been good? 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:10.879 And then what what's gonna happen when you get cancer? 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.440 What's gonna happen when your kid gets sick? 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:17.679 What's gonna happen when that car wreck happens? 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:19.120 Was that your fault? 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:20.720 Is that because you haven't been good enough? 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:24.480 See, it's the golden retriever that ends up biting you on the backside. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:34.879 And part of us wants good things to happen to good people because it means we can be in control, and then if I'm just good, my life works out. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:40.480 But it but if this is true, what Jesus is talking about, it means I'm not in control. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:44.799 It means I actually have to live in surrender and in faith. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:47.039 I can't hedge. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.360 I can't hedge against hurt that much. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:57.600 And then if you are moralizing suffering, there's this whole other side of it that it means you're in constant judgment over other people. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:59.919 Oh, did you hear what happened to Cindy Joe? 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:01.519 Did you hear about her? 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:04.000 Yeah, she got sick. 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:06.720 She probably hadn't been real faithful lately. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:08.720 Did you hear what happened to Randy? 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.159 Did you hear what happened to Randy? 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:16.159 Well, if it's happening to Randy, and I'm moralizing suffering, it means it means something's wrong with Randy. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:17.360 Something's going on. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:19.919 I don't know about, but I kind of thought he was that way. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:21.759 I kind of thought he was that way anyway. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:24.960 So you're in constant judgment on other people. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:31.840 And then if it happens to you, not only are you suffering, but now you live in shame. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:34.559 It's a golden retriever that bites. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:37.919 But your suffering is not God getting you back. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:39.840 He may use your suffering. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:45.200 We may not understand suffering, but he's not getting you back. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:48.480 Point number two, I kind of already hit on it. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:52.639 You have less control over the suffering in your life than you'd like to. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:53.279 Amen. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.720 Just like you're like, yes, yes, I do because I've tried. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:00.960 I was suffering and I tried to control it, not working out. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:07.919 Or I'm just trying to control everything so I don't suffer, and I'm actually suffering because I'm trying to control everything. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.720 Now, some control works. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:16.879 Uh if you don't want your child to get hit by a car, probably don't let them play in the highway. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:20.559 Uh if you don't want to get lung cancer, probably shouldn't smoke. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:22.720 Like, so there's some reality here. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:30.480 Like there's some things, there's some measure, but you can't stop your parents from divorcing when you're 16 or 26 or 46. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:34.240 You can't stop your your husband from having an affair on you. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.960 You you can't stop all the illnesses that might come your way. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:44.559 You you can't stop literally the earth opening up from underneath you where you live. 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:46.960 You can't stop a tornado coming from hitting your house. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:49.279 You can't stop gravity from affecting your body. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:53.039 Anybody just wanted to say, amen, having having that going on? 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:53.759 Right? 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.240 I mean, we can't stop everything. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:10.960 Four people this week walking down Westminster Bridge in London, walking to work, walking home, crazy man gets in a car, runs him over. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:13.519 They could have never controlled that. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.399 They could have never controlled that. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:19.200 Who sinned? 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:21.039 That this this guy? 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:22.320 This guy's blind. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:24.000 Who who caused that? 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:27.600 Had it been him, Jesus says, no. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:29.120 It wasn't. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:30.879 Story keeps going, verse 6. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:38.879 Having said these things, and here's where the story starts to get good, it gets good, he spits on the ground, and so this you know this sounds crazy to us, right? 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:43.440 Imagine the blind man, what he's hearing uh when he goes to spit, and he's going, whoa, okay. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.879 Uh but mud had in in this time, mud had the idea of medicinal purposes. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:52.879 So the idea of mud for medicine is not like this foreign thought. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:57.200 But Jesus spits on the ground, he so he's creating the cure from within himself. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:06.639 He spits on the ground, he mixes up, gets some mud with the saliva, then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Go wash in the pool of siloum, which means scent. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:10.240 So he went and washed and came back seeing. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:17.120 Now, this long convoluted conversation begins with a whole bunch of different parties and they come in and out of this text. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:20.559 The neighbors are wondering, hey, is this the same guy? 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.600 Like, is this the same guy who was blind and now he's seeing? 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:29.200 And the guy's telling everybody, he's telling everybody who will who wants to talk to him, hey, I was blind. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:36.720 Jesus, that compassionate teacher we've been hearing a lot about, he spits on the ground, mixes up mud, puts them eyes, I go to Siloam, I can see now. 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:38.559 He's telling everybody who he's willing to tell. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.200 And all the people sure, I'm not quite sure if I believe this. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:42.399 Is this the same guy? 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:44.320 He said, I am the same guy. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:49.279 So finally they take him to the Pharisees because this miracle occurs. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:53.039 It's from this radical new teacher, and it's on Sabbath. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:54.320 Rules are broken. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.240 Uh-oh, rules are broken. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:00.320 I mean, this is affecting status quo of their religion. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:08.320 And the Pharisees are all upset, and they sort of almost overlook the fact, like, like, wow, you can see now? 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:10.080 Like, I'm so happy for you. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:10.559 Right? 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:11.519 You don't get any of that. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:15.200 Like, you would think there would be a measure of like, I like that must be amazing for you. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:16.240 You've never seen. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:16.960 What is that like? 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:17.679 There's none of that. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:19.679 All there is is like, oh, so he broke the Sabbath. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:20.480 Can you tell me about that? 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.879 Because we want to like, we want to track them down, we want to catch them. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:23.600 We're gonna get them. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:28.080 We actually don't care about you, or the fact that you can see now, amazing. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.759 And the whole time this guy's just going, like, you're missing it. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.639 I was blind. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:37.840 The man stops in front of me, spits, mud, eyes, soloem. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:39.279 Now I can see. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:44.879 So finally they go, okay, let's let's keep, let's get the parents. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.080 Let's get the parents over here. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.240 We'll get the parents, parents come over. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.879 And the parents, they're hedging, they're hedging their bets. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:58.480 There's a lot of social repercussions here if they go against the Pharisees and the status quo religion, you know, maybe economic repercussions here. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:02.799 And so, and maybe, maybe they've bailed on this kid a long time ago. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:09.759 Because, you know, maybe it's easier just to otherize them, push, outcast him because he he's disabled. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:12.799 He must be, you know, he must have screwed up, something bad, suffering. 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:13.840 Let's push him to the side. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:15.279 Don't want to get too close to that. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.440 And so maybe they've already bailed on him. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:20.799 But they they here in this moment, they just say, hey, uh, yeah, that's our kid. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:21.360 We're not sure. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:22.000 We're not sure. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:22.879 We're not sure. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:24.559 Um talk to him. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:26.639 Don't talk to us, talk to him. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:32.399 And in that, you wonder what that moment would have been like for this healed man. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:37.440 You have to wonder when he got healed, if he thought, like, oh, finally, I'll be welcomed back. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.600 Like, this must be the thing. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.440 Like, surely this is the thing where mom and dad will let me back in. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.679 Like, this will be the thing where people recognize me into like society. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:50.240 And everybody's just overlooking them. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:51.600 They just don't care. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.240 Verse 34, they answered him. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.639 Just listen to this arrogance. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.600 This is this is the Pharisees. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:07.759 You were born in utter sin, and you would teach us, and they cast him out. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:17.200 Jesus heard that they cast him out, and having found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.680 He answered, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:23.599 I mean, he's just at the bottom. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:25.359 I mean, he thought blindness was bad. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:31.039 Now he was blind, then he could see, and then he got outcast again when he thought it would get better. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:36.880 But Jesus comes straight into that hurt, which may be worse than the first hurt of just being blind. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:40.640 And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.960 And Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.480 He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:55.200 So, point number three, Jesus pursues the blind and the hurting and the outcast. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:01.200 And this guy just never brings anything to the table at any point in this story. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:06.000 Not the first time Jesus shows up into his life, and not the second time. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.839 Both times he is just outcast and he has left and he has nothing. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:10.960 And maybe you feel like that. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:23.279 Maybe you feel like you just never quite have your act together enough to show up at the table, to warrant his love, to be righteous, to be secure as a Christian. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:28.960 And it's like you're in good company because that's just the person Jesus shows up to. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.359 That's just the moment where you can actually see. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:33.440 I just love that verse. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:47.039 Jesus heard that they cast him out, and having found him, he found him, and then all this goes down, more suffering goes down, and Jesus circles back again and finds him again. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:19:00.400 See, Jesus doesn't usher us into the family of God and then just set you off on a path of merit and performance, like, hey, yeah, all the forgiveness of sin, got that, you're covered, and now just work really hard. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.400 That's going to be the rest of your life. 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:04.319 That's not what Jesus does. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:13.680 Jesus says, I take on all your sin and your guilt, I take on all that, past, future, present, I take all that, and I give you my righteousness. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:19.759 And I'm in it here, and I'm circling back around when all that other stuff comes along. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:24.880 He is constantly circling us. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:35.200 To be accurate, theologically, the sentence would be, he is abiding in you through the spirit as you are imperfectly but honestly attempting to abide in him. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:45.759 He is perfectly abiding in you through his spirit, even while you are imperfectly, but honestly, but imperfectly trying to abide in him. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:48.319 See, we're all blind. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:53.279 But no one is blind as the person who does not know they're blind. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:56.240 And yet there's a love. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:00.000 There's a love that's blind to all your imperfections. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:02.640 And it's not stupid love. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.119 It's redeeming love. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:06.880 It's deep love. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.480 It's wise love. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:24.000 It's the love that takes on all that wrath of God that we see in the Old Testament pre-Jesus, where we can understand how just God is and how righteous God is, how big God is, and in the cross, all of that is absorbed in the person of Jesus, in God Himself. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:25.200 He said, I'll take it all on. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:28.079 I'll take it all on so that you are free. 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:29.359 So you are free. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:36.319 And your position with Him is not based on what you do over and over and over again. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:40.720 You are forever His beloved based on His work for you. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:48.640 So, my brothers and sisters, may you know that God is circling you. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:59.519 He is abiding in you through His Spirit as you imperfectly attempt as best you can to abide in Him. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.519 And may you know that your suffering is not God getting you back. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:08.640 He may discipline you, He may do that to grow you, but He's not getting you back. 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:10.640 That was handled at the cross. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:11.839 Let's pray together. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:27.680 God, thank you for your goodness that you saw a blind beggar who has nothing to offer. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:29.920 And you stopped. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:33.920 You brought nothing to the table. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:37.279 And you healed him. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:42.240 Nothing from him, but just from you. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:44.240 And your work. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:53.759 And thank you that even as the story progresses and he suffers more that you don't disappear on earth. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.519 God, we confess we don't understand suffering. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:02.960 And it creates a lot of doubt and disbelief at times. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:08.400 And God, I pray that you would give us belief in all the places we have unbelief. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:11.279 Or at least comfort. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:21.839 And would you help us in all of our life to trust you that you are sufficient for us? 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:27.200 And we know that you abide in us. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.799 In Jesus' name, we pray. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:29.599 Amen.