John 9:8-41 - To Seek Or Not To Seek

Hey guys, thanks for listening to our Calvary Chapel Charlotte podcast. I will walk by faith and not by sight.

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Calvary Chapel Charlotte. Let's turn to the book of John, John chapter 9.

Last week we looked at the man who was born blind. He did not become blind, he was born blind. If you remember the man at the pool of Bethesda, the paralytic, Jesus, when he comes back to him after he was healed, it's kind of the same pattern we're going to see this week.

Jesus heals him, the guy goes off, and he's like, I don't even know who it was. And Jesus then comes back around after his faith is tested, and he comes back to introduce himself essentially to him.

But he tells him, he says, hey, go and sin no more, lest a worse thing befall you, indicating that his condition was because of his sin. This guy, he was born blind.

He did not become blind. And the Jews believed that congenital blindness, being born blind, was not something that could be healed. It required a creative act of God to restore sight.

And so only God could then do that in their minds. We saw last week where the disciples, they approached Jesus, and they're like, hey, who sinned?

This man or his parents that he was born blind? Because the idea was that for God to curse this man, essentially with blindness, well, something must have caused it. Something must have been the result, or the cause, I mean, for the result of his blindness.

Maybe his mother sinned while he was in the womb. Maybe he sinned while he was in the womb. All kinds of these ideas. And so Jesus has, last week as we saw, in response to being chased out, like we said, Jesus was running for his life, but he walked out of the midst of them without any threat to himself.

As he left the temple because they had rejected him as the light of the world, he goes and he sees this man who's been in darkness his whole life. And then he does what? He fulfills exactly what he just said in John chapter 8, that I am the light of the world.

He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And if you remember when we were in John 8, and then we looked at how the light illuminates, the light of the world illuminates all these different things.

A true witness, a true work, a true way, a true walk. We saw all of that. And the beginning of John chapter 9 here, where the man was healed, or while he was given sight, and see where Jesus is, he's essentially the object lesson of that.

Like, hey, I really am the light of the world. I can give this man sight. And as I was studying this week, and praying, and looking ahead, and like I always do every week, Lord, what's in the text? What's next?

Because sometimes you can read it, and you're like, not quite sure what direction to go. What are you showing? And I felt like the Lord just gave me this thought. And you know when it's the Lord, right? You know when these thoughts come.

You know when it's the enemy, and he throws something in there, and all of a sudden, it's doubt, and fear, and condemnation, and guilt, and worry, and anxiety, out of nowhere. You also know when it's the Lord. When it's a thought where you're like, that wasn't me.

I wish I could claim that one. But the Lord is like, hey, why don't you just overlay? Everything from John 8, and John 9. Like, can that fit, Lord? Can we do that? And it does.

It's amazing. It fits. And whereas last week, we saw that Jesus, he comes, and we see that our infirmities, that he was not ashamed of them, and he was not prevented from coming to us, despite our infirmities and brokenness.

We saw that brokenness made the work of God apparent, that allowed the light of the world to be shown for what it is, grace. This week, we're going to see that God and his works, they will be directly influenced in our life by how we seek him and his word.

So Jesus has come to this man. He's done an amazing work in his life. And here we have all of these people now that we're going to see in this story here. And we're going to get through the end of the chapter because there's a lot of narrative. What we're going to see, though, is that how they all see God, the man who was born blind, the Pharisees, his parents, the disciples, it's all directly influenced by how they seek God in his word.

So today we'll look at to seek or not to seek. That is the question. So whether we see or not, it depends on whether we let God's word do what?

Speak. Am I going to let God's word speak? This man, he saw physically because he allowed God's word, the word of God made flesh, to speak to him, to direct him.

He obeyed. I have to let God's word speak for itself or not. Only those who seek will ever see. Jesus said, those who seek me will find me when they seek for me with all their heart.

So there's two themes we're going to look at today. The theme we already talked about that Jesus being the light of the world and the light illuminates. If you remember when we were in John 8, these are the things we went through and saw how the light of the world that illuminates all of these things because Jesus is the true light.

It took a bunch of weeks to go through those. But we can overlay that, the truth and the principles behind all of that, and now we're going to see that lived out, fleshed out in this man's experience with Jesus.

We can take that and then overlay that onto John 9 as we finish this chapter, 8 through 41, and we'll look at those as we go. That Jesus is the light of the world.

He illuminates, and he has done that for this man in an incredible way. The other thing we're going to look at, the other theme that we're going to see in here, we already saw it a little bit last week with the disciples. We're going to look at the term the presuppositional theology.

Well, that was a big one. What's a presupposition? To presuppose something. What is it to suppose something? I think, I believe, I'm sure, I guess, probably.

So a presupposition is to suppose ahead of time to come to something where you already think you know. So a presupposition is an advanced assumption or a preliminary belief before looking at evidence.

Right? If any of you have kids, you've probably done this. Oh, I know why he didn't get the grass cut. Because he just, he didn't think of it. I told him to do it. And I go, why didn't you cut the grass?

Well, I was helping mom all day and we had school and I did, oh, all right. Well, before looking at evidence, I come with this, what I presuppose of why I think that's there. What's theology?

Well, theology is just a study of God or more pointedly, your belief system about God. Everybody has a theology. Everybody has a belief system they hold to about God, their study of God.

So a presuppositional theology is simply my beliefs or assumptions about God that I bring to the table. I bring to the word. Maybe you have them.

It's kind of common if you've grown up in church. Maybe you've taken on this idea that you have a presupposition about God that he's a little upset at you. He's a little angry at you.

Man, he doesn't like sinners. Well, contrary to that presupposition, Jesus says he loves sinners. He did not come for the righteous to call sinners to repentance.

He came not into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. Well, now my presupposition has come head to head with God's word and what do I do now? You see, when we presuppose about God's word, we're presuming to know more than God.

I'm coming with an idea and I'm saying, this is what I expect to see. And then what happens? I then shape the word to what I'm expecting to see. Well, if I expect God's going to be upset at me, I don't want to read the Bible because I'm going to see things I don't like.

I'm going to see that God is angry with the righteous every day. And if they repent not, then they will go into destruction. Yes! But you know what God went to?

To encourage sinners to repentance? That he would send his only son that he would give his very life so that sinners might repent? Presuppositions.

The disciples had one last week, didn't they? And they saw the man born blind and they said, well, who sinned? Automatically, this presupposition they had that, well, someone must have sinned to cause this.

We're going to see the Pharisees have the same idea. But the problem is, I presume then to know more than God. What authority do we have? Right? As believers, what authority? Right?

Is it that, well, I've been a Christian longer than you, so, eh. Or, well, I went to school and got a couple letters after my name. Right? I don't have any letters after my name.

Just after my first name, got a last name. What is it that's our authority? The only authority we have is the word of God. You say, well, I have the spirit. The spirit's moving in my life. The spirit's moving in power.

I hope so, but he's only going to do so according to the word of God. Anytime we move out of line with the word of God, we lose all the authority and power that God has for us to operate in because the spirit's not going to move in our life and that's not according to God's word.

When I step outside of the authority of God's word, I step outside of the power of the spirit. Now what do I do? I got to replace that. So I'm going to try and replace it with self-effort. I'm going to try and replace it with maybe a lot of knowledge.

I'm going to do what Paul says. I'm going to heap to myself teachers having itching ears to try and affirm me because I'm unwilling to allow the word to shape my belief system and who I am.

We're going to see this man today who remarkably has been blind his whole life but has a whole lot more sight than most of the people in the text. He's going to allow the word to shape who he is.

So last week we saw that Jesus said to him to go wash in the pool of Siloam which means sent and he went he went his way therefore washed and came seeing.

He went filthy and he went blind and he came washed and he came seeing in response to Jesus. Where does he go? Well if you've been blind your whole life and you now can see where are you going to go?

Man I want to go see what mom looks like. He goes back home. The neighbors therefore and they which before had seen him in verse 8 that he was blind said isn't this he that sat and begged?

Isn't this the one we saw every single day? And some said it's him. And others said well it's like him but it's not really him.

And he said no it's me. I'm he. How frustrating. How frustrating when people will not see or believe what is right in front of their eyes. How frustrating for this man.

It must be someone else. Really? Why will they not accept the spiritual realities they see with their own eyes? Why don't people accept that?

When your life is transformed and clearly it is you but it is not you. Something has happened. Why won't they accept those spiritual realities right in front of their eyes?

Well we've kind of been prepped for this haven't we? In John 3 and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

You see to accept a life that has been changed by God is to accept that there's a God who changes lives. If I accept that God has changed your life then I need to accept that that's what God does.

God changes lives. And guess what direction God always changes lives? From darkness to light. From dirty to clean. From sin and broken to whole.

And I have to now accept that my sinful unclean and broken life is not how God wants me to be. You see to accept a God who changes lives is to accept that lives need changing.

My life needs changing. So we shouldn't be surprised when people reject what God is doing in our lives because what does it do? It just holds up in front of them a mirror that says your life needs to be changed too.

Usually they say for the context of the life we live right? I don't know how many of you have had your eyes miraculously healed from blindness but usually it's God's doing work in my life and he's taking me deeper into the things of the Lord and he says I want you to be further from darkness than you were.

I want you to be more sanctified in your life. Why? So you can be super spiritual and holy? No, because I want you to experience more of my love. Get away from that and come over here to me. People look at that and they go you're just trying to be really holy.

You're just trying to be really spiritual. Like no, Jesus has changed my life. So they asked him now a very legitimate question and said well how are your eyes opened? How'd this happen?

A legitimate and genuine question but were they prepared to accept a genuine answer? But be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

1 Peter 3 15 Be ready to give an answer but be ready for the answer to be rejected. A genuine answer to a genuine question but will they accept this?

And he answered and he said a man that is called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes and said unto me go to the pool of Siloam and wash I went and washed and I received sight.

Here we see our light of the world illuminating a true witness in a true way. This man gives a true witness to the true way. What is the true way that he is following?

He received Jesus' touch obeyed Jesus' word and followed Jesus' commandment. That's all the witness we have guys. That's my witness. Man Jesus touched my life.

I obeyed his word and now I'm following his commands. True witness in a true way. And yet this man had not yet seen Jesus to this point until Jesus comes to talk.

He hasn't seen him as he's giving his witness here. He does not yet fully understand Jesus. He doesn't fully know Jesus. He doesn't know all of who Jesus is. He doesn't even have a relationship yet with Jesus.

In John 20 Jesus is after his resurrection he's appearing in the upper room and who's not there the first time he appears, right? We all know Thomas. Good old Tommy.

And Jesus comes and says to Thomas after Thomas you know he says put your hands on my side and your fingers on my hands and he says my Lord and my God.

And he says Thomas because you've seen you've believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Even this man he's not seen Jesus. This blind man's witness was a true witness.

Well the man born blind he's not a blind man anymore. The man born blind his witness was a true witness. He knew the name of Jesus the touch of Jesus the words of Jesus the heart of Jesus and the reality of Jesus.

That's what he knew and he could witness to that. And they said unto him well where is he? And he said I don't know. I don't know.

Prove God. I can't. But this I know. I know the name of Jesus the touch of Jesus the word of Jesus the heart of Jesus and the reality of Jesus.

You see this man was honest about what he knew about Jesus and he was honest about what he didn't know. He didn't try to fill in the gaps. He didn't try to speculate for the sake of keeping the people's interest or appearing more knowledgeable than he was.

It's easy to do sometimes. Maybe not even in the context of things with the Lord or with his word. You know someone says well do you know about this? Oh of course I do. I think I don't know what they're talking about.

I hope they give me some more information so I can start tracking with them. That can be a helpful thing too. Not to pretend you know more but just be quiet and gain more information.

I do that all the time in my professional world. I'm on these different large construction sites and you know I'm representing the engineers they think I should know everything and I don't know anything half the time and they're like well what should we do?

This, this or this? And I was like hmm. And what I found in construction and in counseling most people already know what they're supposed to do.

they already know they just want someone to affirm them. They just want someone to be there and say yes that's a great idea let's do that. Man I'm struggling in my marriage I think I probably should be more intentional with my wife and spend more time in the word and fellowship.

What do you think? Yeah that's probably a good idea let's pray about that. No that's good. You know you know we messed up and we we put the wall in the wrong place.

What do you think we should do? You know well we should probably move it. Okay thank you. Most people already know. Where is he?

He said I don't know. He's quite honest to confess and guys I don't know. I don't know what you need specifically but I do know Jesus. I do know his touch.

I do know his word. So they bring him to the Pharisees natural step. They brought him to the Pharisees that was a four time blind. Of course they did.

This is amazing. This has never happened before. It was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes and so John tells us these two things. These are two things that were forbidden by the Pharisees on the Sabbath day.

You could not do work. To heal on the Sabbath day was to do work and he made clay. He was doing brick work on the Sabbath. You know mortar, clay.

Can't do that. They had these crazy laws. You couldn't spit in the dust because the spit could roll up the dust and make clay. So they bring him and Jesus did this on the Sabbath day.

You know Jesus could have done this on Sunday or Friday but he did it on Saturday or Sabbath. He knew what he was doing. He's challenging what? Their preconceptions. Their presuppositions.

How many times do we see Jesus interact with the Pharisees, his heart for these people? And then again the Pharisees now asked him. This man is going to get asked to share his testimony over and over here.

He hasn't had so many people talk to him in years. How did you receive your sight? And he said unto them he put clay upon my eyes I washed and do see. He explains to them a true work.

The light of the world has revealed a true work. A true work is a transforming work. If any man be in Christ he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. All things have become new. Jesus has just blown apart the presuppositional theology of these Pharisees.

You see blindness required an act of creation. Jesus just revealed or established himself as Lord over creation. Only the creator could heal congenital blindness.

But he also revealed himself as a violator of their Sabbath. Their minds are blown. How do we respond? How do you respond? How do I respond when God's word and God's truth is contrary to my beliefs about God?

What happens? And you will be challenged. Faith that's not tested is not faith. What do we do when God's truth is contrary to my belief system and my understanding of God?

In 2 Corinthians Paul is laying out the process by which we are essentially interacting in the life in the world around us. He's pointing out to us that the struggles we face as believers as being born again in the spirit we're not wrestling against flesh and blood.

He says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God. They're spiritual. To do what? Casting down imaginations every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

You see when I hold to a belief system contrary to God's word what have I just done? I've elevated a high place. It's the same wording used in the Old Testament the altars the high places.

They said we can have this high place on the hill where we will worship God and this other God. They can be there together. They can coexist. The Lord doesn't coexist does he?

When I do the same thing and I exalt this presupposition in my mind and say no God I'm going to hold to this for me man I had a hard time getting past condemnation when I was younger.

A hard time. I always wanted to remove that sense of feeling under guilt under the load so I would do anything to try and make myself feel better. Now God forgives me.

Now he loves me. Everything's better again. Phew. The problem was what? I've given the enemy a tool. All he's got to do is yank that chain and down I go again. He'll give you seasons.

Hey I feel really good right now. Boom. Down you go. Because I wasn't standing on the word. God's word says there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. What about when I feel condemned?

Doesn't change anything. So I began to stand upon God's word. God I feel horrible right now but I believe your word and I'm going to act accordingly no matter how I feel. A true work of God it doesn't need our help to validate it.

I don't need to try and prove it. I don't need to try and convince people it's real. I just need to stand in it. It just needs to be witnessed to. They asked this man and they said well what happened?

How did he do this? He said he put clay on my eyes I wash and I see. How? How did the clay do that? He mixed it with spit that's kind of weird. How does that? I don't know how it worked. I have no idea. So you're just saying you believed in Jesus and now your sins are forgiven?

You're going to go to heaven when you die? Mm-hmm. How does that work? I don't have any idea. It doesn't need validating. It just needs witnessing too.

Essentially this man says I was touched by Jesus I was sent by Jesus I obeyed Jesus and I was changed by Jesus. Therefore said some of the Pharisees well this man is not of God.

They won't even say Jesus' name. This man, Jesus is not of God because he keeps not the Sabbath day. Others said there is a group within the Pharisees remember Nicodemus is one of them who believes how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?

And there was a division among them. So their presuppositional theology was that God would only work through people who are not sinners. Right?

For God to use a man he couldn't have sin. Now their definition of sin was don't break any of our laws. So they consider themselves without sin because they made up their own laws.

But there's a division among them because some said how is this possible? According to our own belief system this man couldn't do this if he was a sinner.

So according to our own belief system we have to accept what? This man is not a sinner. See how Jesus is just trying to draw them in and open their eyes. Division.

Division is not always bad. This idea that unity and ecumenism and oneness is the goal. No it's the byproduct.

It's the byproduct of the goal which is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added. Division is not always bad and God saw the light that it was good and he divided the light from the darkness and from that point on until now and until there's a new heavens and a new earth where there is no darkness he will continue to do that.

Praise God for division. Praise God he's dividing out the light from the dark. You see the issue here is not that the Pharisees did not see the true work of God. We can't see what God did.

They could. The issue was they had no interest in seeking the God who did the true work. God has presented himself to them contrary to what they were expecting and they had no interest in seeking a God like that.

Jesus would in speaking to the Pharisees one of the times that he would very strongly indict them because of their unbelief. In Mark 7 he says how be it in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

And he said unto them full well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition. What is a tradition? Something we usually hold to a lot of times for the sake of holding to it.

It's comfortable. It's familiar. It's part of who we are. Doesn't mean all traditions are bad. It's just that's what they are. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition.

Cut the legs out from under God's word because it's no longer an authority. It's just one voice among many. And they said unto the blind man again well this is funny what do you think about him that opened your eyes?

I mean the Pharisees have never talked to this man in their lives in his life either. And now they're asking him well we can't figure out who he is what do you think? And he said he's a prophet.

Here we see the light of the world illuminating a true word that this man speaks. This man's testimony was 100% correct about Jesus wasn't it? Was Jesus a prophet?

He was. But did that mean he knew 100% about Jesus? He didn't. He didn't. But he was faithful to speak what he knew. What is testimony?

A testimony is simply God's word plus my experience with God's word. That's what a testimony is. Like share your testimony. Oh I don't get a testimony. I never did drugs. You know. I don't even have a felony.

Testimony. It's just God's word plus your experience with God's word. What has God done in your life? Share that. It's according to his word. According to the power of God.

According to the spirit of God. But the Jews did not believe concerning him. They did not believe the one that had been blind and received his sight. I love how John adds this. The Holy Spirit is just having John add these things.

Could just say the Jews didn't believe him until they called the parents of him. They're going to call his parents in now. But I love how he puts it in here. The Jews did not believe concerning him that had been born blind and received his sight.

Just keeps it right in front of them. This is what they're rejecting. And so they called the parents of him that had received his sight. And they asked them saying is this your son who you say was born blind?

Maybe he was faking. That's what it is. He wasn't really healed. You were faking being blind your whole life. It was all just so you could beg and get money because you don't want to go to work.

How then is this your son that was born blind? How then does he now see?

They wouldn't believe their eyes. They wouldn't believe what was right in front of them. So they looked to find a way to explain away or discredit this true work. The reality of this man's experience it did not fit their presupposition.

so they had to get rid of it. We got to explain this away. We'll bring his parents. What is the danger? What is the danger we face? We are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.

What is the greatest danger that the light faces today? The dark. It's the light afraid of the dark really. You ever seen the light you turn the lights on and it takes a little while because it's like working up the courage to expel the dark?

No the greatest danger to the light is not the dark. It's blind eyes. The greatest threat to the true word is not the false word. The lie has no power against the truth.

The greatest danger to the true word is an unwillingness to let the truth of the word shape my views. That's the danger because I'm willfully blind. Those who do not seek they will not see.

That's what you see here with these Pharisees. Unwilling to see what's right in front of them. Not because it's not plainly seen but because they don't want to seek the God who's being revealed to them.

And his parents answered them and said look we know this is our son and we know he was born blind but by what means he now sees we don't know. Or who has opened his eyes we know not.

He is of age ask him he shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews the religious Jews for the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he was Christ that Jesus was Christ he should be put out of the synagogue be put out of their gathering.

Synagogue is just to gather essentially put out of Jewish society. This poor man had been alone his whole life in the dark and now he finds himself alone in the light.

Nobody standing with him. But he wasn't alone was he? And he had the true word didn't he? There are those who should stand with us.

There are those in our lives who whether by birth or whether by relationship or whether through marriage or whether through church family or friendships they should stand with us.

They don't. We find ourselves standing alone in the light. Do not despise the weakness of those who should stand with you. When instead they're hiding in fear that the light will expose them.

They're hiding in the dark. Don't despise them for their weakness. They're hiding in the dark because they're afraid that the light will expose their self-love and their pride. And here you have his parents should have stood with him but they're too afraid.

Don't despise them. 1 John 4 18 and 19 says there's no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment. Love doesn't torment.

Love doesn't use fear as a motivator. Be careful in a relationship that attempts to manipulate you or move you through fear or through torment.

He that fears is not made perfect in love. He's not yet complete in love. He's not yet received the wholeness that love brings. We love him because he first loved us. What do I do when I'm finding myself in fear or tormented and even when I'm afraid to come to the light because I think oh God this is going to expose me.

I don't want to be exposed in front of my family. My church family. My natural family. They're going to see myself pride and I don't want to be exposed.

What do I do? I know I need more love. I'll try and love harder. God I'll try so much harder. I'll try and work harder to love this person or love you. What does the scripture say?

We love him because he first loved us. So do I need to pray for that person who should be standing with me? Oh God give them more love for me? No I need to pray that instead God would let them receive more love from him.

God love from God. I need to allow myself to receive the perfect full whole love of God that will cast out the fear and torment that will allow me then to go God thank you yes I will stand with this person I will be there I will see God them the way you see them because as God loves me I respond in love to him so don't pray that people would love you more pray instead they would let God love them more and the response then will be love therefore said his parents he is of age ask him and then again again they called this poor man in and said unto him give God praise we know that this man Jesus is a sinner and he answered and said whether he's a sinner or not I don't know but one thing

I know whereas I was blind now I see how do I know how do I know when my presuppositional theology is contrary to the truth of God how do I know when my presuppositions stand in opposition to the true work of!

the true word of God and the true freedom that God brings these Pharisees continue to stand in opposition to this true work and this true word and the true freedom this man has experienced do do you notice his testimony though what's happening to it it's getting shorter and shorter verse 11 he gives the whole thing to his family well a man that was named Jesus made clay anointed mine eyes and said to me go to the pool and washed I went and washed and came and received!

apart in this anymore all that is left is Jesus all I know is this I was blind and now I see John 3 30 he must increase but I must decrease his testimony has been reduced to realizing it was just Jesus I mean yeah Jesus did this and I did this and it's good thing I went to that church at that time good thing I agreed to go with this person to that whatever good thing I and you get to a point where you realize I don't know I was blind and now I see there's only one thing we need to know to experience true freedom as this man says one thing I know what is that one thing and if the son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed and this is life eternal!

that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent you see our theology our belief system about God our study of God our understanding of God should not just lead to knowing about God but it must lead to knowing God or it's of no value what value is it as Paul would say if I have all knowledge and have not love what value is that man if I have all the theology and I can tell you this is and that is and I can point to this and that and we can talk about all these things and well this is why I think and this is why what's it doing in relationship with the Lord is love increasing your love for God your love for his people what!

about your faithfulness to those around you are you drawn closer to the Lord and his people do you find yourself hungering for his word for fellowship for prayer what's it matter what our theology does if it doesn't lead us to knowing God and they said to him again what did he to you how opened he your eyes they been asking this question the whole time in John of Jesus give us some validation what is happening what does he did he do to you he did the works of his true father that's what he did and he answered them and said I told you already and you didn't hear wherefore would you hear it again will you also be his disciples now either this guy's getting really cheeky as we go through this and he could be or he's a man who's been blind his whole life he's been kept away from this area of life he wouldn't be involved in all the religious things they were doing all the festivals he couldn't see all those lanterns lit being the light of the world maybe he thought he had this view of the

Pharisees like I just wish that or he could be giving it back to them as they're giving it to him he said I told you already and you wouldn't hear wherefore would you hear it again will you also be his disciples do you want to be his disciples or is he saying listen I'm going to tell you again gladly if you want to be his disciples is that what you're looking for but they reviled him and said you are his disciple but we are Moses his disciples we know that God spake to Moses as for this fellow we don't know from where he is Matthew 7 verse 6 Jesus says give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast you your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you your pearls!

You on it you have saved for it it it it beautiful and you hand it out and the person into the mud and trample it for good measure there comes a point where more discussion will only cause more division listen I have already told you and told you and told you I not going to tell you again unless you want to be his disciple we could talk who would you follow as a true follower as the light of the world illuminates true followers who are you going to follow the Pharisees who can't see hear or understand the work of God or this nobody who was once blind but now sees hears and understands that somebody has changed his life who are going to follow well this guy he's got all these credentials and he's famous books but this guy just met on the streets says someone changed his life and it sure seems like it because I know him man he's been blind his whole life there comes a point where more discussion will only cause more division but there also comes a point there's been enough discussion and you need to decide where you're going to divide a true follower a true follower hears!

will you also be his disciples because I am one do you want to be also and they recognize him as a disciple you are his disciple or Moses his disciple a true disciple does not presuppose about the word I don't have my presuppositions about the word but what does a true disciple do a true disciple is predisposed to following the word as a true disciple I am predisposed whatever the word says let's do it let's go with it let's accept it this is reality this is not reality all of this this is reality man when I bring my presuppositions all I'm doing is just holding myself back from what God has for me in John chapter 5 if you remember we read this do not think that I will accuse you to the father there is one that accuses you even

Moses in whom you trust for had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me but if you do not believe his writings how shall you believe my words if we don't accept the word we're not going to accept the one the word reveals the man answered and said unto them here is a marvelous thing that you do not know from whence he is and yet he's opened my eyes now you could be saying this sarcastically well hey here's a marvelous thing you don't know from where he is but he's opened my eyes guys you wait wait wait wait wait you don't know this is a marvelous thing you don't know from where he is and yet he's opened my eyes and then he throws their theology right back at them now we know that God does not hear sinners but if any man be a worshiper of

God and does his will he hear him since the world began it was not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind so according to your own theology if this man were not of God he could do nothing you understand what he's saying here no amount of proof no amount of wondrous signs will ever convince a heart to believe he can have all the proof and all the signs but if the heart will not believe these Pharisees they knew the truth but wouldn't believe it saw the truth but wouldn't believe it understood the truth but would not believe why why would they not accept what they knew what they saw and understood to be true why don't people accept what they clearly know is true this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil because they've elevated something higher than God's word the man born blind he understood how logical this is to accuse

Jesus of being at odds with God this makes no sense Jesus cannot be at odds with God God who alone can create has just created a new work of sight in response to who Jesus which means according to their own theology that Jesus is without sin who is this work of God not in response to the Pharisees the Pharisees had no ability to do this you see this man was correct in what he supposed about God's righteousness wasn't he he understood God is righteous he understood there's a division between light and dark he understood there's a division between that which is holy and that which is sinful he says God does not hear sinners well he was correct about the righteousness of God but he had sinners praise God because of redemption God does hear sinners Ezekiel 18 23 even in the

Old Testament we see I have no pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God or have I any pleasure that the wicked should die and not that he should return from his ways and live yes God hears!

Romans 5 8 and 9 but God commends his love towards us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be delivered from the wrath through him praise God he hears sinners praise God he still hears sinners you see if we get stuck on our presuppositions we end up in a place where we are no!

longer able to see the! revelations God has for us do we understand everything about God no not at all I'm continuing to learn and to grow but I have to then let God conform my mind to his word so many times I have an assumption about something and the Lord shows me so gently hey that's that's not the way I'm going oh wow Lord I'm marveling that I was so blind that was so thick headed and look what they answered they answered and said unto him you were altogether born in sins and do you teach us they cast him out what has he just established to help them remember hey God doesn't hear people who have sin so if Jesus healed Jesus did a creative work of God God must accept him by your own theology it means he doesn't have sin you also accept that if I've been born!

it's sin that I am blind my blindness is directly related to the fact that I have sin what happens when a man does a creative work of God and removes the blindness by your own theology then the sins removed by their own belief system they're saying you were born in sin yes I was according to your belief system and that's why I was blind which wasn't really that's what they thought but now the one who removed my blindness has the authority to do that he has authority to remove sin remember when Jesus was in Capernaum probably Peter's house it just says in the house and the man that was the paralytic the four guys bring him to the roof they can't get in because so many people are pressing around Jesus and they tear the roof off and let him what about walking and the

Pharisees there says that they said in their hearts who is this man there's none who can forgive sin but God and Jesus knowing what was in their minds he said so that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins why would he link those two things and then say to the man get up and walk because they believed that physical ailment was a direct result of sin he said I say to you get up and walk if I can heal him I can forgive sins if I can restore this man's blindness the Pharisees their presuppositional theology was simply a cloak for their unbelief it was simply big words and big ideas to hide the fact they wouldn't believe any mindset or belief that sets itself up as an true their unbelief has rejected a true work a true witness and now they're rejecting this true follower they've rejected the true word but we shouldn't be surprised neither should this man because

Jesus says in John 15 to his disciples if the world hate you know that it hated me before it hated you Jesus has already experienced it verse 35 Jesus heard they cast him out and when he found him he said unto him do you believe on the son of God Jesus sees Jesus hears and Jesus seeks the outcast doesn't he for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost true life do you believe on the son of God true life is found when the true son finds us willing to accept these true words and work that God does true life is when God finds me willing to accept the true word and true work of God that's where true life is and this man answers and said who is he Lord that I might believe on him he knows this is

Jesus he knows this is the one who healed him he's been blind his whole life his hearing is extremely acute right he's going to recognize this voice he's going to understand who this is he thinks Jesus is who a prophet the prophet is saying the one who's healed him is saying the one who's of God is saying hey do you believe on the son of God who is he Lord I might believe on him you see this man is allowing his understanding of Jesus to be shaped by what by faith not by sight he has not yet seen!

Jesus until this moment he still doesn't realize all of who Jesus is his understanding of Jesus is being shaped by his faith this man would see Jesus because he had a heart willing to seek for Jesus and how did he see Jesus remember the woman at the well how her understanding of Jesus grew remember the official in Capernaum how his understanding of Jesus grew Jesus leads these people to a true understanding we see the same thing here with this man born blind how did he see Jesus in verse 11 he was just a man but his faith shaped his views as his faith shaped who he was and his understanding of Jesus not his sight then he's a prophet and then he says to the Pharisees he's of God and then he says to Jesus Lord and Jesus said leave and he worshipped him his understanding grew as he let go of his presuppositions and allowed the reality of the true word and true work of

God to shape his life when I stop denying what God is doing and I believe his work his word when I accept that he is the one who determines for me what I am to believe when I respond to that what happens man I get to understand Jesus so much more I know Jesus so much more I can see Jesus in the sense of seeing what he's doing and Jesus said unto him you have both seen him in a tea that talks with you because of Jesus you and I will see and hear and understand more than we could ever imagined as true followers we continue to have that opportunity as we allow the word of God to shape our views to shape our understanding of God and shape how we follow him but it is written

I have not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him and if we went on to continue reading it would say but he has revealed them to us by his spirit the spirit searches the deep things yea the deep things of God and he said Lord I believe and he worshipped him this man has been blind and alone his whole life in the dark he's been given sight and just about everybody he knows has rejected him but what does he have what does he have that will never be taken from him and he has Jesus the natural outcome of our faith should be worship the natural outcome of faith always leads to a life of worship and I don't mean just singing and praising yes we should singing and praising speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and singing and making melody in our hearts the Lord we should do that absolutely we should do that worship though means to bow it's the idea of surrender it's the idea of what yielding to something greater our lives should be lives of worship you see if my belief system about God is not leading me into a life of worship but is leading to a life of fear is leading to a life of works is leading to a life of guilt of doubt is leading to me to bring definitions to the word to try and shape the word to fit my views if it's not leading to a life of worship then chances are I'm seeking to understand God by something that's anchored in my sight what I understand what I can grasp and not in faith because when we walk by faith it leads to a life of worship you know those people you meet them well I'm a

Christian I'm a believer oh okay where do you go to church oh my family's gone to this church for years oh do you no I don't go there oh okay hey how you doing your walk man I just feel like I feel like God's out to get me nothing's going right you know how's your time in the word well I'm not really a reader oh okay you spend time with the Lord well I try to pray but I can't really think of anything so you know I don't know what's going on in my life no you don't because you don't have eyes to see and Jesus said to this man he reveals more to this man than the Pharisees understood through all of their learning for judgment I'm coming to this world they would see not might see what is Jesus saying here Jesus came to open eyes and to shine light and to give life he came to give a true legacy and that legacy is a legacy of faith not by sight he'll explain to us what he means here because the

Pharisees who were there we just can't get rid of these guys and some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said unto him are we blind also are we blind you think he would say yeah you are so blind but they're not blind he said unto them if you were blind you should have no sin but now you say we see therefore your sin remains in other words if they would accept that they have been judged spiritually blind they would accept that they need spiritual sight yes if you were blind you would have no sin you would recognize I am so blind Jesus I need you and he would remove your sin this man who was blind and no longer is blind because of the work of Jesus he was a man in sin and no longer because of the redemptive work of Christ is he in sin you see those who see the blindness of their sin are those who will seek the light of life but if you don't think you're blind you're not going to seek a cure their presupposition here regarding their spiritual state has left them in a place of unwillingness to open their eyes to their need for

Jesus they thought they were good I'm good I go to church more than once a month I'm good I don't need someone telling me I've been a Christian my whole life I read my Bible every day I come all the time I don't need you I'm good oh the Lord is so gracious so many times I realize my eyes were closed to something and he opens them and I was like Lord how long have I been so blind as much as I wish I was never blind I'm so thankful that Jesus revealed to me my blindness so he could give me sight a true legacy of light allows us to see sin for what it is sin is spiritual blindness there's no hope outside of Christ and you think is there no hope for them for them who presuppose they already see what about those who already say why see

I'm fine is there no hope for them those who think they see what does Jesus say in verse 39 for judgment I'm coming to this world that they which see might see tongue twisters and he says this and they which see well that's good right Jesus might be made blind those who think they see must be made to see that they're really spiritually blind so they might truly see those who see themselves as sinners they will seek the Savior Jesus came to make those who see be blind we go out we say we want to open people's eyes we do we want to open the eyes of the blind but we will run into the people who say I'm good they say as Jesus says you would have no sin but now you say we see but you don't see you're actually blind but you say everything is good your presuppositions your beliefs your ideologies the things you're holding to to validate yourself that are contrary to

God's word are keeping your eyes closed to a greater work that God wants to do in your life in 2nd Corinthians 4 1 5 through 6 what do we do what do we do then as the light of the world how do we respond therefore seeing we have this ministry of opening blind eyes of taking light in the dark of closing eyes that see to prepare them to understand that their savior is a healer we faint not don't faint how can you open someone's eyes how can you bring light to someone who's blind and we have the word it cuts deeper it bypasses the eyes and goes right to the heart for we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake the idea there is I don't have anything like that man in his testimony he's like you know what all I can tell you is what

Jesus has done well didn't you have a part in it well I did I responded yes I obeyed I believed but if Jesus didn't initiate it if he didn't leave heaven and come here and go to the cross what does it matter for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness as we read in Genesis he divided the light from the dark commanded the light to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ you the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty through God and what they will do is they will bypass the mind the eyes and they go to the heart we have a light that shines out of the darkness it shines into the heart and it gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ you think of this man who finally got to see Jesus looking in his face and not realizing who he was looking at how many times how many times has

Jesus put something in front of me and I don't even realize what it is I'm seeing it's the work of God it's the witness of God it's the life of God you see Satan's work of blinding is very great he's a good blinder but God's work of bringing light is even greater only as we seek God that we will then see God and we will only see God when we seek God according to what his word says not according to the presuppositions I bring about his word that's when I see God and so often the things that keep me from growing it's not that I don't understand it's confusing I just don't want to see it I don't want to see that because I'm going to have to accept that God changes lives and he wants to change my life but when God changes our lives it's a glorious thing the light of the knowledge of the glory of

God and what do we find he's mad at us no when we finally open our eyes it's Jesus it's the of Jesus looking at us the whole time he was there Lord thank you that this morning as we ponder these things Lord in our hearts those hearts that you shine the glorious light into you've given us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ it's not an angry face it's not a mad face it's not sad it's not aloof Lord the faces that this man has never seen today the day we're reading about he got to see them the faces of his parents and they left him high and dry maybe those who helped take care of him would walk him to the temple so he could beg and they wouldn't even accept that it was him the religious leaders maybe faces he wanted to see so bad rabbi so and so he's heard his teachings and he finally got to meet him and he didn't have the time of day for him as he reviled him all alone in the dark and now he's all alone in the light thank you

Jesus for seeking out those of us who've been rejected thank you Lord for showing us how spiritually blind we really are so that we can allow the work of God to touch our lives and to do a brand new work of creation open our eyes we close them for a minute recognizing that I don't have all the answers when we open them again we see with brand new eyes glorious things that you have done for us Lord just in this stillness Lord give us fresh eyes to see Lord close our eyes to the!

that maybe we've been looking at instead of you that we've held up in opposition to the truth close our eyes to those things Lord open our eyes to the true work of God that you're doing in our lives we love you Jesus in name we pray amen