SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: God, it's only well with our souls because of your reckless love.
SPEAKER_02: The fact that uh it doesn't make sense that a God would send his perfect son to die for an imperfect people.
SPEAKER_02: But you did just that for us.
SPEAKER_02: And because of that, our souls are secured with you for eternity.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the fact that we get to sing, you're willing to climb up any mountain.
SPEAKER_02: How do we know that?
SPEAKER_02: Because you climbed Calvary for us.
SPEAKER_02: And I thank you for that.
SPEAKER_02: And thank you that you didn't just keep the 99 and let the one go.
SPEAKER_02: And you didn't go after just the one, but you went after the full 100 to say, I want all of you, because I'm giving all of me.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_02: Bless this time together, and it's in your name that we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Well, good morning, church.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, as many of you know, my name is Wade Burgess, and I'm the executive pastor here, and it's my privilege to come before you this morning as we have been uh preaching through the book of John, and we'll continue that today.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna pick up in a story that Neil started for us last week, and uh I want to remind you of where we were last week, where we're going today.
SPEAKER_02: Now, um, and along the way, we're gonna read about 26 or so verses, something like that.
SPEAKER_02: Instead of reading all of those verses at once, I'm gonna break that up into sections.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna stop and kind of unpack each of those.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about them, point out a few things to you.
SPEAKER_02: I'll also warn you, I've got about two to three sidebars that I want to have with you.
SPEAKER_02: And most of the time, those just kind of sneak up on me and they surprise me and you.
SPEAKER_02: But today I've got two or three on purpose that I want us to sidebar about.
SPEAKER_02: So we're in John chapter 9.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, here's what's happened so far.
SPEAKER_02: This man was born blind.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus sees it, makes some mud, puts it on his eyes, and says, hey, go wash a particular pool.
SPEAKER_02: The man does, his sight's given.
SPEAKER_02: The religious leaders go nuts.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I know that's a little bit of a theme that we've been seeing kind of throughout this book as Jesus continues to say and do the things he is, the religious leaders are going, oh man, you're starting to really mess with us.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk about that today and what that looks like.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I want to encourage you to take notes if that's your style.
SPEAKER_02: If it's not, I want to challenge you to take away one thing, maybe one nugget that you're going to digest and kind of chew on this week and say, how do I live that out?
SPEAKER_02: And that isn't because I'm gonna say anything particularly profound, but it but it's because of what the Holy Spirit might impress upon you today.
SPEAKER_02: It's what God's living word might say to you today.
SPEAKER_02: So take your notes, or if you're just sitting there, I just want you to listen and to think and to take away and apply.
SPEAKER_02: All right, so here we go.
SPEAKER_02: This is John chapter 9.
SPEAKER_02: We'll begin in verse 13, and this first section is verses 13 through 19.
SPEAKER_02: So let's take a look at what's happened.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this man has been healed, um, and they they found out about it.
SPEAKER_02: The Jews have seen it.
SPEAKER_02: The Pharisees are kind of figuring out what's going on, and here it says, they, meaning the Jews, brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_02: The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.
SPEAKER_02: Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight.
SPEAKER_02: Well, he put mud on my eyes, he told them.
SPEAKER_02: I washed and I can see.
SPEAKER_02: Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God because he doesn't keep the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_02: But others were saying, Oh, how can a sinful man perform such signs?
SPEAKER_02: And there was a division among them.
SPEAKER_02: Again they asked the blind man, What do you say about him since he opened your eyes?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, he's a prophet, he said.
SPEAKER_02: The Jews did not believe this about him, that he was born blind and received sight, until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight.
SPEAKER_02: They asked them, Is this your son, the one you say was born blind?
SPEAKER_02: How then does he now see?
SPEAKER_02: Let's stop there.
SPEAKER_02: And what we're going to do today is we're going to talk about four aspects of spiritual blindness.
SPEAKER_02: Now, the definition of spiritual blindness is the inability or simply the unwillingness to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: That's all it is.
SPEAKER_02: Spiritual blindness is either the inability or unwillingness to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible teaches that if you can't see Jesus, you can't see God.
SPEAKER_02: Now here's your first sidebar.
SPEAKER_02: It's my belief that there are those that say, Well, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I see the storms that are coming, uh, I see sunrises.
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, we've got this intelligent designer that has designed the world.
SPEAKER_02: And I believe even in healing, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_02: But you know, I'm not so sure about this Jesus character.
SPEAKER_02: Still hadn't made up my mind about him yet.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what the Bible teaches: God is three in one Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: If you say, Well, I believe in God, but I don't believe in Jesus, then the you don't have the proper context for believing in God in the first place.
SPEAKER_02: And that's really what we see here with these Pharisees.
SPEAKER_02: This first characteristic of spiritual blindness is stubbornness.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: It says, Some of them are saying, Well, he's not from God because he didn't keep the Sabbath, and others are saying, well, how can he perform such signs if he's sinful and he's not from God?
SPEAKER_02: And so we see this idea that they're so caught up in, well, he healed on the Sabbath, oh my gosh, you can't do that.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, we're rule keepers and we've got all these rules, and we've got over 600 of these rules, and these rules have to be kept, and so you've got to follow the rules in order to be the rules, and if you don't follow the rules, then you see that you see where I'm going.
SPEAKER_02: And so these guys are just so torqued up about the fact, oh my gosh, you broke a rule, and if you broke one of the rules, there's no way that you can be from God.
SPEAKER_02: And then the second thing that we see there related to that stubbornness, the stubbornness that says God must act within the confines of the parameters we've given.
SPEAKER_02: They also say, well, I tell you what, if he could maybe be from God and he could heal on the Sabbath, ah, I know what it wasn't really a healing.
SPEAKER_02: It was a farce.
SPEAKER_02: This guy wasn't even really blind.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's not even real.
SPEAKER_02: They've pulled some kind of joke on us and they think they can get away with it.
SPEAKER_02: And so here's what they do.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh they call them in, and we'll talk about that in just a second.
SPEAKER_02: But I think we are like the Pharisees at times, where we might pray for something, we might be asking for things, and it doesn't go quite the way we expect it.
SPEAKER_02: And then we just say, well, that wasn't from God, or that's not the way he works.
SPEAKER_02: Here's an example from my own life.
SPEAKER_02: So my mom has had a long history of heart disease.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a lifestyle issue, it was purely hereditary.
SPEAKER_02: She inherited these uh uh narrowing uh arteries, this hardening of the arteries, and all this.
SPEAKER_02: She's had two triple bypass surgeries, and so a couple of months ago I get a call, and by the way, this is the way my dad tells me he waits until they're already at the hospital for about 10 hours, and then he calls me.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, uh, your mama's not doing too good.
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, we at the hospital, but look, everything's fine.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean you're at the house?
SPEAKER_02: Everything's fine.
SPEAKER_02: What in the world?
SPEAKER_02: And so they rush her to the hospital during the night by ambulance, and she's had another heart episode.
SPEAKER_02: And so, man, that I get this call and I fly to New Orleans and I'm gonna be there and let's see what's going on.
SPEAKER_02: And I I get to the hospital and they say, Well, your mom's not doing well.
SPEAKER_02: She's got bleeding, her hemoglobin is at critical level.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've had to transfuse her, we're not sure where the bleeding's coming from.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, we've got this heart valve issue.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've got we've got some problems, and we we we need to figure this thing out.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: So we've got family and friends that are praying for that.
SPEAKER_02: The staff here is praying because they knew that I'd left unexpectedly.
SPEAKER_02: My parents have people praying in their church for it.
SPEAKER_02: We're in the hospital a couple of days, and the nurse practitioner walks in and says, uh, well, we're gonna release you.
SPEAKER_02: What's that?
SPEAKER_02: And uh they said, Oh yeah, yeah, you're good to go.
SPEAKER_02: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean we're good to go?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, two days ago, we came in here, hemoglobin at five, and I go through the list just in case maybe she had the wrong chart, and I educate her on where we are and what we're doing.
SPEAKER_02: She said, Oh no, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: We couldn't find the source of the bleeding.
SPEAKER_02: Uh your mom's hemoglobin's back up to normal, everything's fine.
SPEAKER_02: And that heart valve issue, we think it's something she can deal with on an outpatient basis.
SPEAKER_02: She's good to go home.
SPEAKER_02: So here's the first thing I thought of.
SPEAKER_02: Well, you quacks over here, I don't know where y'all are from, but I tell you what, we're not in Houston, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Home of the world's largest medical center, and I worked there for 20 years, and I tell you one thing, we're gonna get her down to Houston, we're gonna figure this thing out, or you tell me you can't find bleeding, I tell you, I'll find some bleeding in here.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's the first thing my mind goes to is we've got a misdiagnosis, or you're telling me wrong, or we've got some.
SPEAKER_02: And then about that same time, this hits me.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, isn't this what we've been praying for?
SPEAKER_02: Huh.
SPEAKER_02: How about that?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible talks about that in Acts Peter, you know, kind of the lead apostle for Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Peter gets put in jail, and uh his family and friends they go home and they're praying for his release.
SPEAKER_02: An angel comes, releases Peter.
SPEAKER_02: Peter runs back home, bangs on the door.
SPEAKER_02: A servant girl answers the door, realizes who it is, runs back in and tells the crowd that's praying, hey, you'll never guess who's at the door.
SPEAKER_02: It's Peter.
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, that's impossible.
SPEAKER_02: We're here praying for his release.
SPEAKER_02: I think like the Pharisees, sometimes we're unsure of what God can do.
SPEAKER_02: And therefore we've limited God in our asking.
SPEAKER_02: I think we sometimes think that we know exactly how God works, and so we assume our expectations on the Almighty.
SPEAKER_02: I think we think, God, I don't know if you, I mean, I'll pray because you told me to, but I don't know if you can really pull this one off.
SPEAKER_02: And then he does it, and then we're slow to recognize exactly who's responsible.
SPEAKER_02: That idea of stubbornness.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, let me say, spiritual blindness can affect the unbeliever and the believer.
SPEAKER_02: Thankfully, it can be a temporary issue, but it certainly can affect us all.
SPEAKER_02: So I want to ask you a couple of questions out of that, just for you to ponder.
SPEAKER_02: One is, what wrong assumptions are you making about God?
SPEAKER_02: Are there any wrong assumptions that you have about God and maybe how he works?
SPEAKER_02: And the second question is, are you limiting God in the asking?
SPEAKER_02: I think about that question related to our hilarious Sunday that's coming up in December, this idea of we're going to pray and give and be obedient to whatever God's calling us to, whatever level that looks like.
SPEAKER_02: And we're going to do that in hopes of retiring some debt so we can be faithful more with our resources and looking at a new sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: But I think about this idea of are we asking God for big enough?
SPEAKER_02: If he gives more than we can ask or imagine, are we limiting him in our asking sometimes?
SPEAKER_02: Do we have some stubbornness related to that idea of spiritual blindness?
SPEAKER_02: Let's pick back up the reading now.
SPEAKER_02: We're in John 9, 20 through 23.
SPEAKER_02: This next section we're going to take a look at, and I think it's going to point us to the second characteristic of spiritual blindness.
SPEAKER_02: So the Pharisees have called in the parents, they've got them, and here's what they say.
SPEAKER_02: The parents are saying, We know this is our son, and that he was born blind, his parents answered, but we don't know how he now sees, and we don't know who opened his eyes.
SPEAKER_02: Ask him, he's of age, he'll speak for himself.
SPEAKER_02: His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as the Messiah, meaning Jesus, then that person would be banned from the synagogue.
SPEAKER_02: This is why his parents said, He's of age, ask him.
SPEAKER_02: That second characteristic of spiritual blindness, I think that we see there is personal preference versus inclining toward the unknown.
SPEAKER_02: Now, these parents, I think, at first glance, as they're brought in, I think you might say, Well, they're standing up to those Pharisees.
SPEAKER_02: They're going, hey, don't ask us, you can go ask him.
SPEAKER_02: I tell you what, don't tell me what time it is.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, what we see is that based on the culture and their preference, they're saying, Oh, don't ask us.
SPEAKER_02: Let us off the hot seat.
SPEAKER_02: You better go ask him.
SPEAKER_02: Let's put the blame on him.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what happened, but don't mess with the good thing we've got going in terms of that idea of how do we continue in this Jewish community, how do we continue in the synagogue?
SPEAKER_02: How do we not lose our status in a sense, this preference?
SPEAKER_02: How do we not lose that?
SPEAKER_02: Now let me say this.
SPEAKER_02: As a parent, if you heal my son of a skin tag, I'm gonna be thankful.
SPEAKER_02: You heal him of blindness?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm likely, while I don't understand it, I'm gonna say that might be something I want to find out more.
SPEAKER_02: I might want to follow that person a little bit more and say, hey, hey, how exactly did you do that?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, did you do that really?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna worry too much about the fact that you can't be a member at Grand Parkway anymore if that were the case, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You just healed my son of blindness since birth.
SPEAKER_02: And instead they're going, eh, I don't know exactly how that happened.
SPEAKER_02: Ask him.
SPEAKER_02: This idea of leaning toward personal preference versus leaning toward this mystery that's worth exploring.
SPEAKER_02: I think it might look something like this.
SPEAKER_02: If you were to sum it up, I think it would be this.
SPEAKER_02: I know Jesus, but I still live the same way.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not changed by the fact of knowing him.
SPEAKER_02: One commentator called it this irrational folly and a stubborn rejection of the facts.
SPEAKER_02: How stubborn do you have to be that your son that's been blind since birth now has sight, and you go, Yeah, I don't know what happened.
SPEAKER_02: Just let us be sure we stay in our preferences.
SPEAKER_02: You get what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02: All right, let's take a look maybe for the third characteristic of spiritual blindness, and we'll do so in verses 24 through 29.
SPEAKER_02: So a second time, they, meaning the Pharisees, summoned the man who had been blind and told him, Give glory to God, we know that this man's a sinner.
SPEAKER_02: He answered, Whether or not he's a sinner, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: But one thing I do know, I was blind and now I can see.
SPEAKER_02: When they asked him, What did he do to you?
SPEAKER_02: How did he open your eyes?
SPEAKER_02: I already told you, he said, and you don't listen.
SPEAKER_02: Why do you want to hear it again?
SPEAKER_02: You don't want to become one of his disciples, too, do you?
SPEAKER_02: They ridiculed him.
SPEAKER_02: You're that man's disciple, but we're Moses' disciples.
SPEAKER_02: We know that God has spoken to Moses, but this man, we don't know where he's from.
SPEAKER_02: So here's what I think to be the third characteristic of spiritual blindness, and it's a desperation to be right.
SPEAKER_02: It's desperate to be right.
SPEAKER_02: The Pharisees have interrogated this man now on two different occasions.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I think at first blush you would say, oh, that's good police work.
SPEAKER_02: That's kind of good investigative work there.
SPEAKER_02: They're asking questions, they're trying to trip him up, they're making sure it's firm, it's all of this.
SPEAKER_02: But let me remind you, these are the experts of the law.
SPEAKER_02: One commentary said this, it's a measure of their perplexity, the division among them, and their sheer embarrassment that they're asking this guy one more time, tell us who he is, what happened, and all that.
SPEAKER_02: It's not good police work.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, this is kind of like a, I don't know, kind of like a math professor, like a PhD in mathematics, is solving this big problem.
SPEAKER_02: And on the first day of class, his incoming freshman come in that couldn't put two and five together, and he's going, hey fellas, can y'all help me out with this thing?
SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
SPEAKER_02: That's kind of what we see with the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh my gosh, we we are stuck.
SPEAKER_02: We are embarrassed and desperate.
SPEAKER_02: We're so desperate to be right.
SPEAKER_02: I think that can happen to us.
SPEAKER_02: I think it happens to us in our marriages.
SPEAKER_02: We're so desperate to be right that I can't tell my spouse, you know what, I was wrong about that.
SPEAKER_02: We're so desperate to be right in our parenting that we don't have the guts to say to our kids, you know what, hey, would you forgive me for that?
SPEAKER_02: I really miss that parenting opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: Let me go back and try that again.
SPEAKER_02: We're so desperate to be right that we miss blessings, that we miss the opportunity for healing, maybe in relationships, because we won't be the first one to take the high road and say, hey, would you forgive me for that?
SPEAKER_02: We're so desperate to be right that we miss the chance to lead.
SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly what happens when you have spiritual blindness.
SPEAKER_02: All right, well, let's continue on now.
SPEAKER_02: We're in verse 30.
SPEAKER_02: Verses 30 through 36, I think, provide us with this fourth characteristic of spiritual blindness.
SPEAKER_02: So here it is.
SPEAKER_02: This is an amazing thing, the man told them.
SPEAKER_02: You don't know where he's from, and yet he opened my eyes.
SPEAKER_02: We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is God fearing and does his will, he listens to him.
SPEAKER_02: Throughout history, no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind.
SPEAKER_02: If this man were not from God, he wouldn't be able to do anything.
SPEAKER_02: You were born entirely in sin, they replied, and you're trying to teach us, and they threw him out.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, Do you believe in the Son of Man?
SPEAKER_02: Well, who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?
SPEAKER_02: He asked.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus answered, You've seen him.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, he's the one speaking with you now.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me warn you, I kind of pick on everybody in this story.
SPEAKER_02: I've picked on the Pharisees and the parents.
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm gonna pick on the former blind guy.
SPEAKER_02: It's not like I'm picking on the handicap, okay?
SPEAKER_02: He's already been healed, but stay with me here, all right?
SPEAKER_02: I think the fourth characteristic of spiritual blindness is a dulled senses.
SPEAKER_02: Jamie Foxx, the uh actor and singer, entertainer, and all.
SPEAKER_02: Um Jamie Foxx said that uh while he was playing Ray, the the movie about Ray Charles, have you seen this one?
SPEAKER_02: The the the biography of Ray Charles?
SPEAKER_02: And I think it was really well done.
SPEAKER_02: Um and Jamie Foxx did a tremendous job.
SPEAKER_02: He has a real gift for mimicry.
SPEAKER_02: Uh by the way, Jamie Foxx, here's a sidebar I didn't expect, but I'll tell it to you anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Uh useless facts to know and tell.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Jamie Foxx was uh raised by his grandparents in Terrell, Texas.
SPEAKER_02: He holds the high school record for touchdown passes by a quarterback in that area of Texas still.
SPEAKER_02: Jamie says that my grandmother wanted me to be sure that I had a toolbox full of gifts and talents and things like that, and she knew that I'd been blessed for certain things, and so she signed me up to take classical piano lessons.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I was doing that in high school.
SPEAKER_02: I was going to this kind of almost like a high school for the performing arts in a sense.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I learned how to play classical piano.
SPEAKER_02: They came to me to do this movie Ray, and he said, the way Ray Charles chose me for it is we put our pianos together and we went, we kind of dueled pianos for about 10 or 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_02: And at the end of it, Ray said, He'll do.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, Jamie Foxx says, Yeah, I was getting ready to play Ray, and they wanted to be sure that I played it as best I could.
SPEAKER_02: And so they developed these prostheses that would go over my eyes, and they it rendered me blind.
SPEAKER_02: Now, one of the reasons they did it was so that when he took off the dark glasses, you could see, oh, okay, I see he's blind.
SPEAKER_02: But the other reason was it's kind of hard to fake blindness sometimes or not, you know, and you might peek or something.
SPEAKER_02: And so they said, We wanted Jamie to be completely in the dark.
SPEAKER_02: So he says, We're shooting, and I can't see a thing.
SPEAKER_02: We take a break for uh a meal during shooting, and everybody forgets that I have him on, and so they go do their things, and I'm kind of stumbling around trying to get my plate and get my meal together, and I sit down at a table, and somebody sits down next to him, and he says, We started chatting, and Jamie says, Yeah, I told him, Oh, hold on, you gotta stop tapping that pencil.
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, uh Jamie, I'm not tapping a pencil.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I tell you, somebody's tapping a pencil.
SPEAKER_02: The guy that sat with him looks about three tables over, and there's somebody tapping a pencil, making some notes, tapping a pencil.
SPEAKER_02: And he told Jamie where that guy was sitting.
SPEAKER_02: And Jamie Foxx said in an interview that my other senses, particularly that of hearing, had been honed so much.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, he'd only been wearing those prostheses for about eight or twelve hours at this time.
SPEAKER_02: The reason I tell you that is can you imagine somebody that's born blind, how heightened their senses must have been?
SPEAKER_02: The sense of taste or touch or uh smell, but certainly hearing.
SPEAKER_02: This guy heard Jesus tell him what to do with the mud that he had put on it.
SPEAKER_02: He heard Jesus spit in the dirt to make the mud, and now hears Jesus talking to him, and already the guy's going, uh yeah, who is he?
SPEAKER_02: We get dulled senses.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, we get dulled senses, I think, especially the longer we've been in that race, the longer we've been kind of saying that we're living for Jesus, those senses can get dull.
SPEAKER_02: We can forget exactly that God is in the miracle business still, that God is continually doing work for the kingdom that he's calling us to join him in.
SPEAKER_02: I think we've got to be real careful about dulling the senses related to spiritual blindness.
SPEAKER_02: How do you know if you suffer from spiritual blindness?
SPEAKER_02: Well, maybe it's because your life hasn't changed much since salvation.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not talking about just that moment that, ooh, I was converted.
SPEAKER_02: And I made this profession of faith.
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about over time.
SPEAKER_02: Is your life still being sanctified, still being made more holy, still being made more Christ-like the older you get and the further along you get in that Christian walk?
SPEAKER_02: Or have you dulled your senses, become stubborn, making sure that you're desperate to be right?
SPEAKER_02: And leaning more into your personal preferences.
SPEAKER_02: Now there's good news.
SPEAKER_02: If there's blindness, there's sight.
SPEAKER_02: And I want us to take a look at some characteristics of that spiritual sight as well.
SPEAKER_02: Let's finish up the reading here, starting in verses 37.
SPEAKER_02: We'll go 37 through 41.
SPEAKER_02: So he tells him, you know, he's been kicked out, right?
SPEAKER_02: The Pharisees put the guy out, and Jesus says, Well, hey, would you believe in the Son of Man?
SPEAKER_02: Well, who is he?
SPEAKER_02: So verse 37, Jesus answered, You've seen him.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, he's the one speaking with you.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I believe, Lord, he said, and he worshipped him.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.
SPEAKER_02: Some of the Pharisees were with him.
SPEAKER_02: They heard these things and asked him, We aren't blind too, are we?
SPEAKER_02: If you were blind, Jesus told them, you wouldn't have sin.
SPEAKER_02: But now that you say, We see, your sin remains.
SPEAKER_02: Now I think that the text ends, that chapter ends in a little bit of an odd paradox.
SPEAKER_02: You you see, but you sin, see, you're blind and blameless.
SPEAKER_02: What, Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: What in the world are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Here's what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying this.
SPEAKER_02: Pharisees, you say that you know God.
SPEAKER_02: You say that you see God.
SPEAKER_02: But just like the start of this sermon where I said, hey, if you say you see God, but you don't believe in Jesus, then you're not really seeing God.
SPEAKER_02: The Pharisees are saying, Oh, we know God, and we know all the rules, and we see God, and we understand who He is, and Jesus is saying, Really?
SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
SPEAKER_02: You know, if you had admitted your blindness, I'd be glad to help you.
SPEAKER_02: If you admitted your blindness, you would be blameless in a sense, in that I wouldn't call you to account.
SPEAKER_02: I'd help you and I'd show you.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, you're so insistent that you see God, you're so insistent that you know all the answers.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: You're going to be held fully responsible because of that.
SPEAKER_02: And so I think that first characteristic of spiritual sight is this idea of divine initiative.
SPEAKER_02: In the beginning of the story, in the beginning of chapter 9, Jesus was not asked by the blind man to heal him.
SPEAKER_02: He wasn't begged by the parents to step in and help him.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, Jesus saw him, made mud, healed him.
SPEAKER_02: It points to the fact, as one commentator put it, and he wrote it like this: if God did not take the initiative in salvation, no one would be saved.
SPEAKER_02: Let me assure you, God seeks out the cast out and the cast off, and that's exactly what he does here.
SPEAKER_02: This man is put out, and Jesus goes and finds him and says, Hey, would you be willing to believe?
SPEAKER_02: So that first characteristic of that divine initiative that God puts himself out there first because our nature wouldn't allow it otherwise.
SPEAKER_02: There's a second characteristic of spiritual sight, and it's simply the recognition of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this makes sense that if the definition of spiritual blindness is the inability or unwillingness to recognize Christ, then sight would be recognizing Christ.
SPEAKER_02: But we see it here with this progression of recognition, and I want to walk you through that as we see this formerly blind man gets this progression of recognition.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, it starts in verse 11, when they said, Hey, who opened your eyes?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Well, the man they called Jesus made some mud.
SPEAKER_02: So at first he just says, All I know is his name.
SPEAKER_02: I just know him as Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And then we see in verse 17, as we kind of move forward in this in the narrative, they ask him again, Who opened your eyes?
SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, he's a prophet.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you understand the culture and kind of the education of that day, prophet was the highest place he could think of to assign a man of God.
SPEAKER_02: Messiah had not come into play yet.
SPEAKER_02: They had not fully grasped that yet.
SPEAKER_02: Certainly didn't think it was Jesus yet.
SPEAKER_02: And so this highest place that he could give was prophet.
SPEAKER_02: Well, hey, he healed me.
SPEAKER_02: He did something that only a man of God can do, so he's got to be a prophet.
SPEAKER_02: And then we see his progression goes even a little bit further.
SPEAKER_02: You look over in verse 27, it says, I already told you and you didn't listen.
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: Do you want to become one of his disciples too?
SPEAKER_02: Now, there's two things happening there.
SPEAKER_02: I think number one, he's being a little bit of a smart elic, right?
SPEAKER_02: He's kind of giving him a little dig there.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, do y'all want to follow him also?
SPEAKER_02: He's kind of getting back at him a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the second thing I think that's happening.
SPEAKER_02: This man is realizing Jesus might be worth following.
SPEAKER_02: And he's saying to him, I'm not so sure of this man.
SPEAKER_02: This man that healed me is not someone to whom alliance should be given.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying, You want to be his disciple too?
SPEAKER_02: In a sense, he's saying, Hey, that guy might be worth following.
SPEAKER_02: And then the last progression we see, that fourth progression that this man makes, is in verse 33, where he says, Well, uh it says, if this man were not from God, he wouldn't be able to do anything.
SPEAKER_02: And so now we've seen him go from a man named Jesus all the way to, if he wasn't from God, he wouldn't be able to do the things he's doing.
SPEAKER_02: That idea of recognizing Christ and that progression of recognition, it's my belief that a lack of progression is what will keep certain people in blindness.
SPEAKER_02: I believe the atheist, deep down, believes there's a God.
SPEAKER_02: I think those that have given up on God, they said, Well, I prayed and he didn't come through.
SPEAKER_02: I prayed and he didn't heal, I don't know where he is, he's been quiet.
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
SPEAKER_02: I've just given up on God.
SPEAKER_02: I think those people, deep down in their heart of hearts, know that there's a God.
SPEAKER_02: But I think it's easier to deny or to be closed off than maybe it is to explore certain mysteries and accept by faith.
SPEAKER_02: We've got to be real careful that that idea of recognition of Christ, we may not get it, we may not understand it, we may not understand all he's doing.
SPEAKER_02: I promise you, we are not gonna fully comprehend God, but here's what we can do: we can always pursue, just as he pursues us.
SPEAKER_02: Now, here's your other sidebar.
SPEAKER_02: I want a sidebar for just a minute on prayer.
SPEAKER_02: When I said sometimes people will pray for certain things and then they just, you know, well, that didn't happen, and so I'm giving up on God.
SPEAKER_02: Um, on what basis does God listen to you?
SPEAKER_02: Just a question for you to ponder.
SPEAKER_02: On what basis does God listen to you?
SPEAKER_02: And then when it feels he doesn't listen or isn't answering or he's not there, what do you do with that?
SPEAKER_02: Do you take things into your own hands?
SPEAKER_02: Do you give up?
SPEAKER_02: Or do you keep at it?
SPEAKER_02: I'll ask that you think about it this way.
SPEAKER_02: Do you think 20 years is too long to pray for something?
SPEAKER_02: What if I said, hey, you know what, for the next 20 years we're gonna pray for something?
SPEAKER_02: What if I went a little further and I said, for the next 40 years, we'll pray for something?
SPEAKER_02: Do you think that's too long?
SPEAKER_02: Before you answer, what I would do is I would put that maybe into some context for you, and I'd say, hey, what about a parent praying for the salvation of their child?
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not saying you can pray them into salvation, I'm saying you can pray for it, that you can pray that God reveals Himself to them.
SPEAKER_02: You think 40 years would be too long?
SPEAKER_02: And I would say, not at all.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what else I would tell you is that some of you, I think, probably had some people praying for you, maybe a grandmother that prayed for you, that while she's not around to see the fruits of those prayers, she still prayed.
SPEAKER_02: She knew she wouldn't be here to see it, but she kept praying anyway.
SPEAKER_02: I think there will be things that we will pray for, there's things that we should pray for that we are not gonna be around to see.
SPEAKER_02: And we ought to still be praying for them.
SPEAKER_02: And that's not a new idea.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible tells us, bring our petitions before God, continually ask what you want.
SPEAKER_02: People, sometimes I think that just because we're not gonna see this side of heaven, certain things that we pray for, we don't give up, we don't give in, we don't say God's not listening, we keep at it.
SPEAKER_02: Because I think a lot of us are a product of prayers prayed long before we got here.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, into the sidebar, back to our sermon.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, characteristics of spiritual sight.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, it results in worship.
SPEAKER_02: Once we know and recognize the object of who we were created to worship, once our sight has been given, we respond in faith.
SPEAKER_02: Take a look at verse 38.
SPEAKER_02: This is exactly what happens to this man.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I believe, Lord, and he worshiped him.
SPEAKER_02: That's an awesome thing to think the minute he believes, he starts his worship.
SPEAKER_02: It's not, well, show me one more time.
SPEAKER_02: Well, if you could come through for me on this, that'd be great.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I'll treat.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: All he said was, I believe what happened.
SPEAKER_02: You show me who it is.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, in a sense, says, I am the object that you were created to worship.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I'm there and began worshiping.
SPEAKER_02: The fourth characteristic of spiritual sight is proclamation.
SPEAKER_02: And I think this might be my favorite one.
SPEAKER_02: Take a look at verse 25.
SPEAKER_02: So the man answers this.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Whether or not he's a sinner, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: One thing I do know, I was blind and now I see.
SPEAKER_02: This idea of proclamation, the idea that as you present the gospel to people, whether you go to work uh this week and you start trying to tell someone what you believe.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe, I don't know, maybe you're at school, maybe you're wherever you are, and you say, you know what, I really want to share with them what I believe.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm a little concerned.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they're gonna make good arguments, and I'm not sure, and I haven't finished memorizing uh, you know, Hezekiah yet, and so I'm not sure I'm ready to lay all that out for them.
SPEAKER_02: Let me assure you of this people will be able to stand on their preconceived notions.
SPEAKER_02: They will be able to argue with you based on how they were raised to believe.
SPEAKER_02: They can argue that the Bible is not real, that it's written by man, it's a history book only, and all these things.
SPEAKER_02: But it is not possible to argue a man out of his position when he says, This is what I was, and this is now what I am.
SPEAKER_02: We see it with these Pharisees, these guys that are probably pretty good at debate, pretty good at making laws, pretty good at keeping those laws or insisting others kept the laws.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Look, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if he's a sinner or not, or what, but I can tell you this: I know what I was, and I know now what I am.
SPEAKER_02: The only cure for spiritual blindness is a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Colossians 1 verse 13 says, At salvation, God rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his son.
SPEAKER_02: I know Jesus, and I know what he's done for me.
SPEAKER_02: That is proof of spiritual sight.
SPEAKER_02: That is the proclamation.
SPEAKER_02: And that's a proclamation that cannot, will not be argued with.
SPEAKER_02: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_02: Clyde's gonna come up and he's gonna play over us.
SPEAKER_02: And as you as you uh take this time to just think and pray and consider what was said, I want to ask you: is there an area where you might be spiritually blind?
SPEAKER_02: And I also want to ask you, are you willing to explore the mystery?
SPEAKER_02: Travel the road of progression toward a faith in Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: If you haven't, I want you to consider that today.
SPEAKER_02: Pray and think, and I'll come back.
SPEAKER_02: God, you restore sight to the blind.
SPEAKER_02: And what we're reminded of is that blindness doesn't just attack us once.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it can continually attack us if we're not careful.
SPEAKER_02: We can see one minute and be blind the next because of our stubbornness, because of our personal preference, because of our desperation to be right.
SPEAKER_02: But Lord, the great thing about you is that you're a healer, not just from the physical sense, but also from certainly the spiritual sense.
SPEAKER_02: And you can restore sight to us.
SPEAKER_02: God, I pray that the way we live our lives demonstrates what we believe.
SPEAKER_02: And what we believe is that we were once in a place that needed saving and it wasn't our idea.
SPEAKER_02: And you came along and saved us.
SPEAKER_02: And now we get to say, I was blind, but now I see, because of God's amazing grace and the way He's loved me.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for loving us.
SPEAKER_02: For it's in your name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for your attention this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I also want to ask your attention for a couple of things.
SPEAKER_02: If you're new to Grand Parkway, if you're a first-time visitor, I hope you've had a chance to fill out that connection card on that seat back in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: If you haven't, take a minute or two to do that.
SPEAKER_02: You can drop it any of the wooden boxes on your way out.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, you all know that have been here a little while.
SPEAKER_02: If today is your day to worship through giving, that's where you can do that as well.
SPEAKER_02: We've got a few announcements coming up.
SPEAKER_02: The video will give you an update on that.
SPEAKER_02: Then I want to give you one more about what's in front of me here on the stage.
SPEAKER_02: Pay attention to the video for just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: This Tuesday is our men's breakfast at 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: in the warehouse.
SPEAKER_01: We'll have breakfast tacos, hot coffee, and a word from the Bible that will apply directly to your life.
SPEAKER_01: Advent and Christmas are coming soon.
SPEAKER_01: For families with children, we will have our family Christmas experience on December 1st at 9 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: This will be a morning full of fun and fun experiences to create members of your family, but most importantly, to celebrate God coming to Earth as a baby.
SPEAKER_01: Cost of$15 per hour, and the deadline to register is November 19th.
SPEAKER_01: Mark your calendars now for the first YK ride on December 14th from 6 to 9.30 p.m.
SPEAKER_01: Registration has opened online.
SPEAKER_01: Hilarious Sunday will take place on December 16th.
SPEAKER_01: This is the day we have set aside for you to pray, plan, and give towards paying down our current debt so that we can better steward our resources toward a sanctuary.
SPEAKER_01: Our request is simple.
SPEAKER_01: Pray, listen, and obey.
SPEAKER_01: If there's anything you've heard today and you have questions, or you would like someone to pray with you, some of our pastors and elders will be down in front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_02: If there is anything you've heard today that you have questions about, please email Neil at Neil at Graham Parkway.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to give praise, you can send those to me.
SPEAKER_02: One last uh announcement.
SPEAKER_02: Uh if you were here last week, you know that we began the uh Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
SPEAKER_02: There's still a few boxes left.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you that Graham Parkway will be a collection site for you.
SPEAKER_02: If you wish to, you can drop off those boxes this Wednesday uh here at the church.
SPEAKER_02: It's just a reminder, this is our final midweek for this semester, so you can drop those off.
SPEAKER_02: We'll have a place right there.
SPEAKER_02: You can bring them in the lobby or whatever you need to do.
SPEAKER_02: But if you need more boxes, they're here for you, okay?
SPEAKER_02: All right, stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_02: Let me give you a blessing and I'll let you get out of here.
SPEAKER_02: This is our custom.
SPEAKER_02: Hold out your hand and let me offer this to you.
SPEAKER_02: You are not beyond God's reach.
SPEAKER_02: And he is not beyond your ability to comprehend what he has done for you.
SPEAKER_02: Go out and live in such a way that the world sees what he's done for you.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You're dismissed.