SPEAKER_01: But we do have a burden for people in Italy and uh we believe that the likelihood of an Italian to run into a Christian and to hear the gospel is far less than anyone in America, and so um so we want to go and we think that Italy is desperate for the gospel, and um and so that's why we're going.
SPEAKER_01: But that said, um, you know, not every American has heard the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I've been to George Mason University and we uh me and uh I see Michael Musket over here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we've talked to thousands of people together, and so many of those had never heard the gospel before.
SPEAKER_01: Um they could not articulate any component of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I like asking two questions when I go up to somebody to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The first question is what are two reasons you stop going to church if it applies?
SPEAKER_01: And I get to hear what religion they are.
SPEAKER_01: And question number two is according to your understanding of Christianity, what is the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: And you should see the answers that I got.
SPEAKER_01: And I got better answers from Muslims than I did from people who grew up in Baptist churches.
SPEAKER_01: And the fact of the matter is, you know, as I think through the six years here, we talked to thousands of people about the gospel, and and you know, very few believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jesse was kind enough to think of a few uh that have come to know the Lord, but very few, a very minute percentage of the people we talked to came to know Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one particular conversation I was with Michael, and uh I like to sit on a bench and talk to the people walking by, and uh college students stopped by his name was Jimmy, and uh you know, our our questions started an over one hour conversation.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember just just feeling like I was answering all his questions perfectly, you know, and maybe in my pride, I was like, I was doing the best gospel presentation I've ever done.
SPEAKER_01: I did it maybe you know three or four times in different ways, you know.
SPEAKER_01: I would answer his questions.
SPEAKER_01: He was with me, he was tracking with me.
SPEAKER_01: I was getting emotional.
SPEAKER_01: I hugged him by the end of the conversation.
SPEAKER_01: We prayed together for his salvation, and I asked him, I, you know, if there was ever a time that I thought somebody was going to say, I believe in Jesus Christ and I want to follow him, and I'm gonna come to Bible study with you, baptize me now, right?
SPEAKER_01: I thought this was the time.
SPEAKER_01: And I asked him, I said, Will you believe in Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Will you believe in the gospel that I presented to you?
SPEAKER_01: And I remember him saying, No, I'm not going to.
SPEAKER_01: And he walked away.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why would he do that?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever had a conversation like that?
SPEAKER_01: Do you know a family member like that?
SPEAKER_01: That you've you've shared the gospel so well, so clearly, you've had an emotional even time with them, you hug them, you love them the best that you could, and they walk away unchanged.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't they believe?
SPEAKER_01: I think through so many conversations over these last few years, and I think through all these people, and I can remember some of the names of people that I just can't believe they didn't believe.
SPEAKER_01: In Jimmy's case, it was it was pride.
SPEAKER_01: He thought he was a good person.
SPEAKER_01: Even though I tried to tell him in so many different ways that he wasn't in a loving way.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we were hugging by the end of it.
SPEAKER_01: He just could not see his sin.
SPEAKER_01: He could not see his need for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And there's no picture better than the pride we see in John chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to turn there.
SPEAKER_01: I want to walk through this passage, and really, we're gonna look through three scenes, and I think John's goal in these three scenes is to cause you to worship Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to worship Jesus Christ and really to display the glory of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the most dramatic days in history.
SPEAKER_01: This guy is about to go through, this blind man is about to go through a range of emotions that really maybe most of us in this room have never experienced.
SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna be an incredible look into the doctrine of conversion.
SPEAKER_01: And there's gonna be three simple scenes that I hope will cause you to not only worship Jesus Christ, but to talk about him to the world.
SPEAKER_01: So let's look at scene one of the curing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what it says in verse one of chapter nine.
SPEAKER_01: It says as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
SPEAKER_01: And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he would be born blind.
SPEAKER_01: So picture the disciples, the 12 disciples, they're walking around with Jesus and they're walking around the temple in Jerusalem, and he they walk by and they see this guy who is begging at the steps of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, you could you could give them a pass.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples are in learning mode right now, and so when they walk by, they see things, they're they're just asking Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They have they believe this is God, and he is God, and so they're gonna ask him questions, and so they see this blind man, this poor blind man who's been begging for years, and they see a question.
SPEAKER_01: How did this happen, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: He's blind, he's never seen before.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: What kind of sin has he committed to get himself into this position?
SPEAKER_01: If someone faced a calamity, especially in this day and age, they had this mentality that was this guy had to have sinned in some way to deserve this outcome.
SPEAKER_01: But they have a problem because this guy's been blind from birth.
SPEAKER_01: He's never seen before.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've met a lot of babies, and babies don't sin volitionally.
SPEAKER_01: They don't sin because they want to, they just do because they do.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they're that's what they do coming out of the womb.
SPEAKER_01: And so there's no way that this guy had sinned in a way that caused God to say, okay, I'm gonna strike him with blindness.
SPEAKER_01: And so the right away they they they go to the next step, which says then it must be his parents' fault.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna meet his parents in a few verses, and they're not doing too well.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see why that is.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus doesn't even entertain that thought.
SPEAKER_01: But I have a question though, and here's the question.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is about to heal him.
SPEAKER_01: Spoiler alert, he's about to heal him, so I hope I didn't ruin it for you.
SPEAKER_01: But the question is, did he have to touch him in order to heal him?
SPEAKER_01: Could Jesus have been ten feet away to heal him?
SPEAKER_01: Could he have been a mile away, as he's healed many people, even in the book of John?
SPEAKER_01: Could he have been still in heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Probably this blind man was older than him in earthly standards, and so he was on the throne in heaven when he was being formed in his mother's womb.
SPEAKER_01: Could Jesus have avoided this whole mess, caused this guy to be able to see from his mother's womb so that he didn't have to experience years of pain and suffering?
SPEAKER_01: Could Jesus have done that?
SPEAKER_01: He could have, but he didn't, and he has a reason.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what it says.
SPEAKER_01: It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
SPEAKER_01: In Luke chapter 13, there's a fascinating encounter that Jesus has with a crowd.
SPEAKER_01: And there's been a death recently in Israel where Pilate has killed a lot of Galileans.
SPEAKER_01: He's murdered them.
SPEAKER_01: And so they come to Jesus and report to him that this happened.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to turn there, but Luke 13 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Now, on the same occasion, there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to them, so Jesus introduces this thought.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
SPEAKER_01: Are they greater sinners because this happened to them?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I tell you no.
SPEAKER_01: But unless you repent, you all likewise perish.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus introduces a story.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this story.
SPEAKER_01: Or do you suppose that those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_01: I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that fascinating?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is told that some Galileans have died, and his response is, I know your hearts.
SPEAKER_01: I know that you think that you're better than those guys because it didn't happen to you.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
SPEAKER_01: It's not true.
SPEAKER_01: And so you need to take this opportunity to repent today.
SPEAKER_01: Then he introduces a story about a tower that falls, a tragic story, kills 18 people, and he says, I know what you think.
SPEAKER_01: You think you're better than them.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not true.
SPEAKER_01: You're just as sinful.
SPEAKER_01: You deserve hell just as much as anybody else.
SPEAKER_01: And so I take this opportunity to tell you today to repent.
SPEAKER_01: Repent and believe.
SPEAKER_01: This was the mentality in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: If something bad happens to me, God must be cursing me.
SPEAKER_01: If something good happens to me, then God must be blessing me.
SPEAKER_01: I must be a good person.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus doesn't pull punches.
SPEAKER_01: He's teaching his disciples today, he's showing them that you, as you walk by a person, to not see them as a question, not see them as a case or an example or a statistic.
SPEAKER_01: But when you look at a person that you would see a soul that's going in one of two places, heaven or hell, and that you would take opportunity that day to lead him to salvation, which is only found in himself, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't look at people as questions, he looks at them as souls.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's asked why the blind man is born blind, and he clearly says it's because I chose it to be this way, so that I could walk by today and I could heal him of his blindness.
SPEAKER_01: He could go through this incredible mess of questioning from the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be kicked out of the you know, of the Judah Jewish religion.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be sitting on a on the bottom of the steps at the at the temple.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be probably crying, not knowing what to do next.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna swing by and I'm gonna save him from his sin so that he can spend eternity with me in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And he's going to be more thankful because of this.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be thankful for all those years begging as a blind man because of what's gonna happen today.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean the trials are easy though.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to press into this for a second because if you think about this, you know, the trials in your life, the difficulties, you know, this blind man has gone through all these years of blindness, and Jesus is taking credit for the reason why this has happened.
SPEAKER_01: So that the acts of God could be displayed in him is a way of saying, I ordained this to happen so that we could be here today.
SPEAKER_01: And he's teaching the disciples that every trial in their life from here on out is gonna be ordained by God, and there's gonna be a purpose for it.
SPEAKER_01: I think about the disciples in Acts chapter 4, they've just been warned that they're gonna be uh, you know, they're gonna be beaten if they continue to preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: They're warned that they're gonna die if they continue to preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the disciples do?
SPEAKER_01: They go back home, they find the Christians, they sit all together, they do a prayer meeting, and what did they pray for?
SPEAKER_01: Read it when you have time in Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: They don't pray for God to remove the trial.
SPEAKER_01: They don't say, God, please make it so that if we preach the gospel, people won't persecute us.
SPEAKER_01: All of them are gonna die except John that we know of.
SPEAKER_01: They're not gonna pray for God to remove.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's literally been told by Jesus that he's going to die on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: So he's gonna ask Jesus to change his mind?
SPEAKER_01: No, he's gonna take that opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna take that opportunity to ask the Lord to give them boldness.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you've heard their threats.
SPEAKER_01: Give us boldness.
SPEAKER_01: This is probably the hardest truth for me to believe.
SPEAKER_01: Before college, I was depressed.
SPEAKER_01: I was uh just in absolute depression.
SPEAKER_01: I was in a rut I could not get out of.
SPEAKER_01: And I went to Italy and did a Bible school where I read the entire Bible in 10 weeks and did evangelism.
SPEAKER_01: And as I was reading and discovering the sovereignty of God in Israel's life to bring about the life, you know, the birth and death and resurrection of Jesus, I was just in shock over how God had every minute detail, you know, taken care of in the Old Testament to bring about Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And by the end of this 10-week school, I was now rejoicing over things that I was crying about just weeks earlier.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I started realizing that God is sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: I started seeing his sovereignty in my life, and so things that I saw as a curse before were actually a blessing a blessing to get me to that point where I was praising the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Just a few months later, I went out to try out for the soccer team at Master's College and I failed miserably.
SPEAKER_01: I ate too much pizza and pasta in Italy.
SPEAKER_01: Or I'd say my knee hurt, but whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And I got cut on the day that this welcome week started, so that you know all the guys that got cut could be a part of this week.
SPEAKER_01: And I was very discouraged.
SPEAKER_01: And I I remember showing up to my group, there was like 40 groups, and all these people that are excited about this week, and I'm discouraged because I didn't make the soccer team.
SPEAKER_01: I got cut by Americans.
SPEAKER_01: I'm Italian, come on.
SPEAKER_01: And I even asked, do I have to go to all these things this week?
SPEAKER_01: Do I have to be a part of everything, or can I just stay in my room because I'm soul king?
SPEAKER_01: And then I looked to my right, and the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life was there.
SPEAKER_01: She's in this room.
SPEAKER_01: She's right here.
SPEAKER_01: It's my wife, Jenny.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not talking about a different one.
SPEAKER_01: This is my wife.
SPEAKER_01: I even saw God's sovereignty in something so sweet like that.
SPEAKER_01: By the end of this man's life, he's going to be more than glad that he was born blind.
SPEAKER_01: Because right now, 2,000 years later, he's still worshiping his sweet Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what verse 4 says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, We must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day.
SPEAKER_01: For night is coming when no one can work.
SPEAKER_01: While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Soon there will be a day when I will be gone, I will die, and so we'll come.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm gonna come back and I'm going to save souls.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm leaving.
SPEAKER_01: There's a time where the gospel will not be able to be preached anymore by you because you're gonna die.
SPEAKER_01: And so you need to preach the gospel now while you can work.
SPEAKER_01: But we'll come back to this at the end.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva, then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud.
SPEAKER_01: And some commentators here say that Jesus is messing with the Pharisees, he's making this a more of a longer process so that he can send this man to do work on the Sabbath, because the Pharisees are not gonna like this.
SPEAKER_01: Because they had built up rules that said that you need to do things in order to be saved, and so they set up these rules that you couldn't do anything on the Sabbath because if you did it, then you were disobeying their rules.
SPEAKER_01: And so, in order to uh keep God happy with you, you need to follow their rules perfectly, and we'll talk more about that in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus here, creating his eyes again, he's saying to the world, I am God.
SPEAKER_01: I am able to take eyes that don't work and give them sight.
SPEAKER_01: I am the creator of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: And so he said to him, Go and wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent.
SPEAKER_01: And so he went and washed and came back seeing.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus heals him.
SPEAKER_01: And he can see for the first time.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine him kneeling at the pool of Siloam, he's got mud all over his eyes, he washes his eyes, and he sees for the first time in his life.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine that's that situation?
SPEAKER_01: What would you do if you went through this?
SPEAKER_01: If you couldn't see, and then all of a sudden Jesus heals your eyes and you can see.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine all the things that you'd want us to go see.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a house looks like.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a tree looks like.
SPEAKER_01: He's running back to the spot that he was that he was begging in so that he could look at all the people that used to walk by him.
SPEAKER_01: He could tell them, I'm the guy.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the women may maybe in this room would would look at themselves in the mirror for the first time and realize their clothes don't match, right?
SPEAKER_01: They'd want to change their clothes.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the guys in this room would look in the mirror for the first time and wish they were still blind.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: So this guy has never seen anything in his life.
SPEAKER_01: And he finally sees, he's so excited, there's no one probably more excited on earth than him right now.
SPEAKER_01: And he's running back to the spot where he would beg so that he can tell everyone that maybe his friends that are there, maybe people that he knows by their voice that walked by, he just wants to shout from the rooftops, I've been healed.
SPEAKER_01: And he shows up in verse 8, and look at what they say.
SPEAKER_01: The neighbors and those who have seen him before as a beggar were saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?
SPEAKER_01: And some said, It is he, and others said, No, but he is like him.
SPEAKER_01: And he kept saying, I am the man.
SPEAKER_01: What should be the most exciting day in his life is quickly becoming a drag.
SPEAKER_01: He's having to prove that he's the man who was born blind.
SPEAKER_01: How's he gonna prove it?
SPEAKER_01: You've seen my face, you know it's me.
SPEAKER_01: And now instead of going sightseeing, he's spending time defending himself.
SPEAKER_01: They're calling him a liar, they're doubting him.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine doing some of that to somebody who's how about you?
SPEAKER_01: You you've had something fun happen to you or exciting, and you're telling people, and and they say, Show me proof for it didn't happen.
SPEAKER_01: Amplify that by a million on the day you went from blind to seen, and imagine how you'd feel.
SPEAKER_01: So they said to them, Then how were your eyes open, verse 10?
SPEAKER_01: And he answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to the site, go to Siloam and wash.
SPEAKER_01: And so I went and washed and received my sight.
SPEAKER_01: And they said to him, Where is he?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I do not know.
SPEAKER_01: He's never seen him before.
SPEAKER_01: They don't want to believe it.
SPEAKER_01: They want to verify the miracle, they want to get evidence to belief.
SPEAKER_01: Unbelief always wants more evidence, and no evidence will ever be enough to convince somebody.
SPEAKER_01: I can hug you, I can, I can, I can plead with you, I can tell you all the evidence that we have in this world, and unless God opens your eyes, you still will not believe.
SPEAKER_01: And so we move from the curing to the questioning.
SPEAKER_01: And scene two, John is moving us from a time where Jesus heals this man.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this man is being interrogated, he's being questioned.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what it says in verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
SPEAKER_01: Now it was a Sabbath day.
SPEAKER_01: It was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay to open his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And like I said, this was a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus probably purposely did this in order to antagonize these Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Jewish religion had turned into a works-based religion.
SPEAKER_01: They they got to the point where they imagined the scenario of standing before God one day, and it was whether he let you into heaven or not, was going to be based on how well you kept the rules on earth.
SPEAKER_01: So that you would be the one who was righteous enough to enter into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So their whole idea of righteousness was the basis of their entire religion.
SPEAKER_01: Because you needed to get yourself righteous enough to stand before God one day and be allowed into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: They were so corrupt that it got to the point where Jesus was healing people and they they proved it.
SPEAKER_01: And it was it was provable because the parents are going to come in and confirm that this is an actual miracle that happened.
SPEAKER_01: And they considered it work.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of being thankful for God being among them, they wanted to hold on to their religion, to their pride, to their thinking that they were good enough.
SPEAKER_01: And denied the clear miracle that had happened.
SPEAKER_01: This is a performance-based religion.
SPEAKER_01: And there was nothing worse in it, you know.
SPEAKER_01: You think about the Pharisees and you see this blind man, and they believe that he was blind for his sin.
SPEAKER_01: And here God has given him a special blessing based on what?
SPEAKER_01: That he begged?
SPEAKER_01: He begged really well.
SPEAKER_01: Why did he give him this blessing?
SPEAKER_01: The Pharisees could not stand this thought.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: They didn't want a guy to just receive a blessing when he's a sinner in their minds.
SPEAKER_01: They deserve the blessings.
SPEAKER_01: They're the ones who fasted twice a week.
SPEAKER_01: They're the ones who gave tithes of everything they got.
SPEAKER_01: They're the ones who did all the performance-based things.
SPEAKER_01: They were the ones that deserve blessings like these.
SPEAKER_01: Not some beggar who was a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: This made them sick.
SPEAKER_01: This is one way to tell the difference between true religion and false religion.
SPEAKER_01: Is what they believe about salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And really, is it an instantaneous act of God on the heart of a man, or is it a process that you earn over time?
SPEAKER_01: But if you take Jesus' miracles, for example, none of them were incremental.
SPEAKER_01: None of them were a process.
SPEAKER_01: They happened that very moment.
SPEAKER_01: People didn't go from dead to mostly dead to alive.
SPEAKER_01: That only happens in the movies.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus caused people to live instantly when he resurrected them.
SPEAKER_01: People didn't go from blind to needing glasses to eventually gradually to 2020 vision.
SPEAKER_01: Like if you get LASIK surgery, it takes months, they say, to get to the point where you can see well.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus healed people instantly.
SPEAKER_01: People don't go from unsaved to kind of saved to more likely to be saved to, you know, to then saved.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gives people new hearts in an instant.
SPEAKER_01: But the Pharisees reject this, so they keep questioning him.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 15.
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 he does not keep the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such things?
SPEAKER_01: And there was a division among them.
SPEAKER_01: So they said to the blind man, What do you say about him?
SPEAKER_01: Since he has opened your eyes, he said, He is a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_01: Wrong answer.
SPEAKER_01: I think John just puts it here so that we know that this man is not saved yet.
SPEAKER_01: A second miracle has not occurred in this man's life yet.
SPEAKER_01: This goes back to Jesus' story in Matthew 16, when he's walking around in uh Caesarea, Philippi, and he's asking his disciples, who do the people say that the Son of Man is?
SPEAKER_01: He's speaking about himself.
SPEAKER_01: And they say, Elijah, Moses, or one of the prophets, right?
SPEAKER_01: And he does not like that answer.
SPEAKER_01: He rejects that answer.
SPEAKER_01: He says, But who do you say that I am, Peter?
SPEAKER_01: What does Peter say?
SPEAKER_01: You're the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: You are the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's clear Peter is saved.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus even confirms that by saying that the Father in heaven has revealed this to you.
SPEAKER_01: You are blessed.
SPEAKER_01: So in verse 18, the Jews did not believe it that he had been born blind and he had received sight until they called the parents of the man who had received this sight.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice that word until, real quick, because these Pharisees, the Bible says that they do end up believing that this man was born blind and that a miracle had occurred.
SPEAKER_01: It says, until they called the parents of the man who had received sight.
SPEAKER_01: So they do end up believing it.
SPEAKER_01: And so they asked them, Is this your son who you say was born blind?
SPEAKER_01: How then does he now see?
SPEAKER_01: And his parents answered, We know that this is their son, and that he was born blind, but how he now sees we do not know.
SPEAKER_01: Nor do we know who opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself.
SPEAKER_01: They're rejecting him.
SPEAKER_01: They're distancing himself from him.
SPEAKER_01: We see why.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 22, it says his parents said these things because they feared the Jews, 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: Therefore, his parents said, He is of age, ask him.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_01: You've just been healed from your blindness.
SPEAKER_01: You're running back to the temple, celebrating, you're being questioned.
SPEAKER_01: They call in your parents.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the first time in your life that you see your mom.
SPEAKER_01: My mom was here last week and reminded me of a movie we watched when I was five.
SPEAKER_01: And we watched this movie about Helen Keller.
SPEAKER_01: And she's blind, obviously, and has never she couldn't, she couldn't hear as well, and she remarkably ended up being able to write and and be a prolific writer.
SPEAKER_01: My mom said that at the end of the movie, I started crying, and I said to her, Are you telling me she's never seen her mom before?
SPEAKER_01: As a five-year-old, I understood what a precious thing that is to see your mom.
SPEAKER_01: I still get brownie points for that, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: She keeps telling me that story.
SPEAKER_01: And uh so, five-year-olds, tell your mom that.
SPEAKER_01: She should be picking him up, kissing him, hugging him.
SPEAKER_01: Forget the coronavirus, right?
SPEAKER_01: She should be going, taking him out to pizza to celebrate.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I would do.
SPEAKER_01: Moving to Italy so that I can do that.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, they don't want to be anywhere near him because they're afraid that they're gonna lose their salvation if they touch him.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Who knows that a miracle happened here?
SPEAKER_01: How about a mom who held this baby in her arms?
SPEAKER_01: Tragic that she's holding this baby and she knows this baby's never gonna see her.
SPEAKER_01: Rejects him entirely, puts him on the steps so that he can beg.
SPEAKER_01: And here he is, seeing his mom for the first time, and she's rejecting him.
SPEAKER_01: They should be looking for Jesus to thank him, to worship him, but they are rejecting their own son, even though they know that God saved them, in order to embrace a false religion of works-based.
SPEAKER_01: That's worse-based.
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how many Italian missionaries hear this sentence.
SPEAKER_01: I think the gospel's true, but I could never turn on my family.
SPEAKER_01: I could never turn on my religion.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you've heard that before.
SPEAKER_01: These parents thought they knew the truth, but they're blinded by their religion.
SPEAKER_01: It's causing them to deny a clear miracle in their own son's life.
SPEAKER_01: So they called him for a second time, who had been the man who had been born blind, and said to him, verse 24, Give glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: We know that this man is a sinner, and give glory to God is a way of saying, Tell us the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Admit that he is a sinner, admit that Jesus is not a good man.
SPEAKER_01: Now we have clearly demonstrated that he's a miracle worker, and and uh you know he obviously made you not blind anymore, but tell us that he's a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: And he answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know.
SPEAKER_01: One thing I know that though I was blind, now I see.
SPEAKER_01: And they said to him, What did he do to you?
SPEAKER_01: How did he open your eyes?
SPEAKER_01: And he answered them, I've told you already.
SPEAKER_01: And you would not listen.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you want to hear again?
SPEAKER_01: Do you also want to become his disciples?
SPEAKER_01: And they reviled him, saying, You they reviled him and said, You are born entirely in sin.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 28, he says, You are his disciple.
SPEAKER_01: We are the disciples of Moses.
SPEAKER_01: We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is from.
SPEAKER_01: Just a chapter earlier in chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is, they picked up stones to kill Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And he has to hide himself to get out of the situation.
SPEAKER_01: Because they're about to kill him, because he said that before Abraham was, I am.
SPEAKER_01: He is saying that he was existing before Abraham existed.
SPEAKER_01: He was already existing, and he claims to be Yahweh in the Bible, and so they pick up stones to kill him, and so they stop with Abraham and they go to Moses this time.
SPEAKER_01: And they say, We believe in Moses.
SPEAKER_01: We believe in Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: Entirely misunderstanding the Old Testament and not realizing that Abraham and Moses both pointed to Jesus Christ and the fact that he would come.
SPEAKER_01: And so the man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing.
SPEAKER_01: You do not know where he comes, and yet he opened my eyes.
SPEAKER_01: We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God fearing and does his will, he hears him.
SPEAKER_01: Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.
SPEAKER_01: If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: So they answered him, You were born entirely in sins, and you are teaching us.
SPEAKER_01: So they put him out.
SPEAKER_01: You were born entirely in sins is a declaration that this man was born blind.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a declaration of his depravity, just human depravity in general.
SPEAKER_01: It's a declaration that this guy was blind, and so they're saying through that sentence that he is clearly has experienced a miracle, and they're just rejecting Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so you can picture this guy being put out, and being put out in the in this day and age was not just, you know, go across the street to another church, right?
SPEAKER_01: This was you're done.
SPEAKER_01: You're not a Jew anymore.
SPEAKER_01: So this guy who experienced such a high of being healed is at the lowest point of his life, probably.
SPEAKER_01: Because he goes down the temple steps, gets to the bottom, sits down, and what is he thinking to himself?
SPEAKER_01: He's probably thinking something like seeing is not all that it's made out to be.
SPEAKER_01: He's probably thinking to himself, everyone else around me is just as blind as I used to be.
SPEAKER_01: They're even more blind than I ever was.
SPEAKER_01: And so I picture him, you know, work with me, I'm making this up, but I picture him just sitting there by himself, cast out, rejected by his parents, rejected by everyone.
SPEAKER_01: And so we move from the questioning to the saving.
SPEAKER_01: He's been dreaming about seeing all his life, and now that he does.
SPEAKER_01: It's not all that it's made out to be.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In comes the sweet Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?
SPEAKER_01: And he answered, Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Lord, I believed.
SPEAKER_01: And he worshiped him.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus instantly told them, You only worship God alone.
SPEAKER_01: Stop worshiping me.
SPEAKER_01: Does it say that?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus accepts the worship.
SPEAKER_01: He demands it.
SPEAKER_01: It's the point of the whole story is that this guy would get on his knees and worship him.
SPEAKER_01: False religions talk about even this passage, or they talk about the fact that in the New Testament, Jesus never demands worship.
SPEAKER_01: He never, he's he doesn't claim to be God.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 8, he's declared himself to be Yahweh.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 9, he's accepting worship from a guy he saves.
SPEAKER_01: He's clearly saying that he is God.
SPEAKER_01: But how many, let me ask you this, how many miracles do you see in this story?
SPEAKER_01: They both, there's two, and they both involve kneeling.
SPEAKER_01: But the greatest miracle in this story is not when the blind man kneels to remove the mud, revealing his new eyes.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest miracle is when he kneels to worship Jesus Christ, revealing his new heart.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because his eyes will one day stop being able to see.
SPEAKER_01: Whether they gradually get worse, or he dies and his eyes stop working, eventually they'll be stop being able to witness the beauty of God's creation.
SPEAKER_01: But his new heart, his new heart will never stop worshiping and witnessing the beauty of his sweet Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And to this day, he is still worshiping Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And then, tragic ending.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 39.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see, and those who be who see may become blind.
SPEAKER_01: And some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no guilt.
SPEAKER_01: But now that you say we see, your guilt remains.
SPEAKER_01: These guys just witness a miracle.
SPEAKER_01: Not just the miracle of the new eyes, but of a new heart.
SPEAKER_01: And yet they're blinded by their self-righteous pride and will not bow the knee to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They are blind.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing that we can do to help these guys.
SPEAKER_01: There's a sculpture I love taking people to in Rome.
SPEAKER_01: It's right by the Colosseum.
SPEAKER_01: Walk up a little hill.
SPEAKER_01: When you come visit me over the next few years, I'll take you to this place.
SPEAKER_01: It's called The Moses by Michelangelo.
SPEAKER_01: It's in a Roman Catholic church, not too far from the Coliseum.
SPEAKER_01: And you walk up to this and it's breathtaking.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a masterpiece.
SPEAKER_01: Many people say it's one of the greatest sculptures ever made.
SPEAKER_01: The legend says that when Michelangelo finished this sculpt, this sculpture, it's the Moses from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: When he finished it, he was so in awe of himself and his ability to create this masterpiece that he struck the knee of Moses' the you know, Moses' knee, struck it in anger and said, Now speak! Speak.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't believe that he wouldn't speak because he looked so real to him.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the pride in Michelangelo's mind as he does this, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's a man so impressed with his work that he thought it looks so real, and he's angry that he has doesn't have the ability to give it life.
SPEAKER_01: After I spoke to Jimmy that day at George Mason, I don't know why I'm getting emotional, but um I I sat on the bench by Musket.
SPEAKER_01: It was right here.
SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, I I answered his questions perfectly.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I prayed with him, I I you know, I hugged him, I did everything I could, right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying trying with all my power to make this man speak, right?
SPEAKER_01: This this sculpture speak.
SPEAKER_01: And I sat down by by Michael and um and said something like, What in the world?
SPEAKER_01: You know, I didn't know what else to say.
SPEAKER_01: And he simply said, He's just blind.
SPEAKER_01: He's just blind.
SPEAKER_01: And it was exactly what I needed to hear.
SPEAKER_01: It was humbling.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing I can do or say to save this man.
SPEAKER_01: It has to be Jesus Christ showing up to do a miracle.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the only one who can heal a blind man.
SPEAKER_01: I absolutely can.
SPEAKER_01: I can memorize all the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I can have the right answer to every question, bring in the right evidence to any question, and it's still falls short of the ability to make sculptures talk and blind men see and dead men walk.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know Jesus today, you need to be saved today.
SPEAKER_01: You're blind, whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not, you're blind.
SPEAKER_01: You need a miracle to happen to you.
SPEAKER_01: And I only know one person who can do it.
SPEAKER_01: And it's Jesus Christ, and he's sweet and he's loving and he loves to save, and he will come and give you sight if you repent of your sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You need to admit that you are blind.
SPEAKER_01: And if you are blind and you admit that you were blind and that now you see, and have kneeled to worship Jesus Christ, then there's only one thing to do, and that's to talk about Him.
SPEAKER_01: Tell others about how they can also receive sight.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to the close with this.
SPEAKER_01: We must work the works of Him who sent me, as long as it is day, for night is coming when no one can work.
SPEAKER_01: In my time at Emmanuel, 60,000 people in Fairfax County died.
SPEAKER_01: When judgment day happened to them.
SPEAKER_01: How many of them were warned about hell?
SPEAKER_01: How many of them got to hear about the fact that Jesus can heal blind people?
SPEAKER_01: As I leave, I just encourage you.
SPEAKER_01: Tell your blind people around you that they're blind.
SPEAKER_01: Tell them about the one who can give sight.
SPEAKER_01: Tell your blind relative, tell your blind coworker, tell your blind grocery bagger at Giant.
SPEAKER_01: Tell the world, stop giving excuses.
SPEAKER_01: So what if you lose your job?
SPEAKER_01: So what?
SPEAKER_01: This guy was blind all his life.
SPEAKER_01: So what if you lose your life?
SPEAKER_01: So what if you move with me to Italy, right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm recruiting.
SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely worth it.
SPEAKER_01: This man lost his whole life by being blind, and he would he wouldn't trade it for anything else.
SPEAKER_01: He'd rather be blind and be and know Jesus and be able to see him forever than to see for a thousand lifetimes and never come to know Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Dear Lord, thank you for this passage.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for this example of Jesus caring about a soul.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, I know that you love us and you and you love to save us.
SPEAKER_01: So I pray that you would use us, cause us to get to witness the greatest miracle on earth.
SPEAKER_01: We all would love to see miracles, but we have one that is the greatest, and that sometimes we're shy and really cowardly at times and don't want to see it.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, give us boldness to go out and see miracles of people coming to see the beauty of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that that's what we would be known for, that's what we would live for.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining Emmanuel Bible Church today through this resource.
SPEAKER_00: It's my prayer that if you live in the DC area, I'll be able to meet you on some Sunday at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church, you can go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_00: Or for information on the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to tms.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource helps you seek God through Jesus Christ, serve the Lord with joy, and share him with boldness.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord bless you.