John chapter 9 beginning in verse 1, this is God's Word, eternally true. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happens so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. When I was coming, when no one can work, while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva and put it on the man's eyes. Go, he told them, wash in the pool of siloam, this word means scent. So the man went and washed and came home seen. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg? Some claim that he was. Others said, no, he only looks like him, but he himself insisted, I am the man. How then were your eyes open? They demanded. He replied, the man they called Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see. Where is this man? They asked. I don't know, he said. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He put mud on my eyes, the man replied, and I washed and now I see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others asked, how can a sinner do such miraculous signs? So they were divided. Finally, they turned begin to the blind man. What have you to say about him? It was your eyes, he opened. The man replied, he is a prophet. The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. Is this your son? They asked. Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see? We know he is our son, the parents answered. And we know he was born blind, but how you can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, he is of age, ask him. The second time they summoned the man who had been blind, give glory to God, they said. We know this man is a sinner, he replied, whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see, then they asked him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered, I have told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too? Then they hurled insults at him and said, you are this fellow's disciple, we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from. The man answered, now that is remarkable, you don't know where he comes from yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. To this he replied, you were steeped and sent at birth, how dare you lecture us, and it's through him out. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, do you believe in the son of man? Who is he, sir? The man asked, tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said, you have now seen him, in fact he is the one speaking with you. Then the man said, Lord, I believe, any worshiped him. Jesus said, for judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind. Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, what? Are we blind too? Jesus said, if you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now that you claim that you can see your guilt remains. Here ends our reading. There's a response of thankless that's printed up here on your worship guide, the word of the Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thanks indeed. Let's pray. You know, when things happen that are nice, it's kind of nice when people are happy with us, right? It kind of shows who our friends are and who's competing with us. Someone's competing with you, right? Something good happens to you and they kind of denigrate it or they downplay it, but if someone loves you, they rejoice. I was always grateful when I was growing up with my parents and my older brother and sister. I was a third of three kids. My brother and sister, even though we were siblings, they didn't compete with me. They rejoiced, and whether that was because they were four and five school years older than me and we were never really competing, they really did rejoice with me. And when something nice happens to me or for me, they celebrated as my parents did. And that's what we might expect as Jesus is doing miracles for people, but it's not what we see. Not in any of the gospels, and John brings that out as well in his gospel too, and we see that here in this passage. It's right, as the prodigal son's father says, it's right for us to celebrate. So if you'd like to fill out blanks in an outline, you're welcome to do that if that helps you remember things and follow along and keep on track and learn great. If you want to just listen, that's fine as well. But we proceed forward here with what God says to us from this passage. Many things, as we've been in this passage, many times the long passage with a lot of things that God is saying to us. But the first thing this morning that we'll see, that God says to us as believers from this passage is this, number one, the correct, sensible, reasonable, logical response, the correct, sensible, reasonable, logical response to the receiving of eternal salvation. Whether it's you receiving eternal salvation or somebody else receiving eternal salvation is here, your blanks, rejoicing, that's a reasonable response, somebody receives eternal salvation, they're set for eternity, they're blessed for eternity, their appropriate response is rejoicing happiness for you or this other person, rejoicing happiness and celebration, celebration. That's the reasonable response, that's what should happen. Now we know we're in a world where when something happens that should happen, we're like bonus, it's like a surprise and that's a good mentality for us to get in and scripture directs us that way, or else we wind up being disappointed just for a day after day because things are not as they should be. So we see this in verse 11 here in this passage, he says that the blindness is the man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes, he told me to go to Silman and wash he's telling this whole account, what happened and he says, so I went and I washed and then I could see, you know, it would have been great to just hear but you can kind of hear in your own head as you read this account, the emotion that's going through various people. You know, I would have loved to hear Jesus in all his power, say, but since you say you see your guilt remains, I would be like, yeah, which is, but you can kind of hear under this text that the joy of this man as he says over and over, gives this story over and over and recounts this was a joyous event, a life changing event, he knows this, this will change my life, I've never been able to see, now I can see, I've always, you know, that's hard for us to imagine, right? If you've never seen anything, what that would be like to all this unsee things, but there's great joy, so that's verse 11, but we see this in Luke 15 as well, Luke 15 has Luke's chapter about all the lost things that get found and what's the appropriate response when something that's lost gets found. Now Luke opens that chapter and says, here's the issue, Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners and the Pharisees were mad, and so Jesus told these parables, that's the setup, and so Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees in Luke 15 saying, you should be joyous, you should be celebrating because here's what happens, and let me just give you some illustrations from life so that you'll recognize the the folly, the the senselessness of the way you're responding to lost people, sinful people, tax collectors who have betrayed Israel and they're working for the Romans when they're coming to faith. This is how you should be responding, you know that if you lose a coin, you got 10 coins and you lose one of them, you're like, oh no, where that other coin go. So it tells this story of this woman and she finds the coin and she celebrates and he tells the story of one who has you know 100 sheep and he loses one and he goes and he finds that lost sheep and then he celebrates, he has joy over this or then there's the father who has two sons and one son stays with them and just keeps working away but this other son says, I wish you were dead, right? We've all heard that before from somebody else besides me, yeah, I wish you were dead, give me my inheritance now, even though you're not, I won't kill you but just give me my inheritance now, my half of the share. So he takes all that and he goes and and and and spoils this or loses all his inheritance on on sinful living but then he returns and this father who has lost his son now has a son who's found again and the father celebrates and that's great joy and says, slaughter the fat and calf, put a ring on his finger and get my best robe and put it on him for it's right for us to celebrate and he calls, so that's the appropriate response for us that we celebrate over our own salvation and over the salvation of somebody else. So A, there on your outline, one A, the blind man is beside himself, he says over and over again he doesn't tire of this, he's beside himself, joyous, that's your blank there, he's joyous and he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him and he gets the sense, right? What people think of him, we'll talk about that in a little bit, he can he can get the emotional kind of tremor of this of what's going on, the temper of what's being said to him, the doubt that's before him, but he's got this joy and he keeps with it the whole time, he's joyous, doesn't care what anyone thinks of him and this is the reasonable that's your blank there, it's the reasonable response of a saved person and so verse nine looked there, some claim that this was the same person, others said no, he only looks like him, but he gets in the middle of it and he says insisted no, I'm the man, I'm the one he used to see, I know you all used to see a blind man begging that that was me, his joyous, he's like yeah that was me, I used to be blind, no he's joyous, his joyous about this, verse 11 looked there, verse 11, he replied, the man they called Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes, he told me to go to Solomon and watch and so I went and watched and then I could see, for mud on my eyes I could see, there's joy over this improbable thing, you didn't think he'd ever see and then getting put mud in your eyes just would be think about this, if this wasn't Jesus and someone just came up to this blind man, you wouldn't see the person approaching, you would hear the person approaching and someone put mud on his eyes that would be like insulting the person, just taking advantage of this blind person who couldn't see that someone had come up behind him and you know put some mud on his eyes or come up in front of him and done that and so there's great joy here that out of this improbable event, now the shame of even having mud on his eyes and having to go find some pools somewhere with mud on his eyes, he's got great joy over this, we're looking at verse 25, 25, he says, whether this man is a sinner or not, I don't know, one thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see, he owns this and he's having great joy, so speaking of salvation itself, David talks about this as the first verse we read there, the Jim read to us and from Psalm 51 earlier this morning, the joy, it talks about the joy of our salvation, that's what we have is Christian people, as people have come to Christ for salvation, we have joy over that, we had it when we first believe we have it now, from time to time we think about what sinners we are and continue to be and we think that God reached in and he saved me, some of you came from unbelieving homes and you think about the course of your life and how he brought someone to you so that you heard the gospel message and believed or for me myself I grew up in theological liberalism and churches where I didn't have a, I'm sure I did not have a pastor who believed that the Bible was true or that Jesus did the miracles that are reported, that's what I grew up in and yet God weaves the path to get my sister saved as a senior in high school before she would be off in college and I wouldn't have that much contact with her and then she shares the gospel with me and the midst of our theological liberal church not hearing the gospel any week of any of the times that we were there in Sunday service God says no problem let me rub some mud on your eyes John and so we have joy over this how God searched us out and saved us and some of us it was just amongst our families some of you from believing families and have brothers or sisters who haven't believed but he sought you out and he saved you now be one be there not only should you not only is the right response of joy or joyous and have joy over this but all that's your blank there all others should rejoice for someone who becomes eternally saved you know if you have any kindness in your heart right it's like you see something going on you don't even know somebody but you see tragic circumstances if you have you know any compassion your heart you go and help uh or if you see somebody you know you know mom coming in and she's got to jump double stroller into Walmart you know you kind of hurry up a little bit and you open the door for if it's not an automatic door I guess Walmart has automatic doors but you know you help because you care a little bit or if you see something happen or we hear these great stories about somebody who you know had great tragedy in his or her life who's become a great success and you see wow that's great right that's a normal response and that's it's hardwired into how we as human beings are created by God that we rejoice over the catch phrase for us now that a human flourishing it's not a phrase we talked about 25 years ago but human flourishing that we that we if you're younger know that we don't always say that term but it's a fine term that we're doing well that we're prospering and it's happening we're we're we're we're we're told is Christian people to rejoice for those rejoice right and so this should be the response of all people and and if you have and if a non-believer here is you and and you talk about but Jesus saved me and my sins are forgiven the appropriate response is that's great your sins are forgiven and they should have that then that Philippian Jailer response right how then may I to be saved that's the appropriate response that's the logical response there um you know it's it's uh you know Linda sister Carol you know struggles with cancer and all this treatment and it doesn't seem like anything's working and she's waking then boom she sees the doctor and the cancer is gone how inappropriate for that I mean when she said that everyone was like you know and so you have tears in your eyes and you know what a wonderful thing uh but but how we inappropriate that would have been more realistic is she really healed did that really happen you know and that we throw doubted that we're we're upset about that or say well prove it let me see your doctor's report right how inappropriate how rude how cruel right that's not an appropriate response and so just realize this with your own salvation something wonderful has happened to you and everyone around you should be rejoicing okay that's the heavenly view of things we know that's not what happens but that's what should happen again that difference between what should happen and what actually happens uh what actually happens in in the world so we see this in the loop 15 parables don't we um but the woman finds her coin and she doesn't just rejoice she calls her friends together and to celebrate with me the man who finds the one sheep who's been lost he calls his friends together and to celebrate with me and the father of the lost son the father the father says to his servants quick see calls everybody in it's not just a private celebration everybody should celebrate because there's a lost son who's been found so the father says to his servants quick bring the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet I always want to break down the Tony Orlando and Dawn at this point right rings on a finger bells on her toe okay yeah they have lived in the early 70s for that one um so we and the father says so we can celebrate um he says bring the fat and calf and kill it let's have a feast and celebrate he says let's have a feast and celebrate let's spare no expense for the son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found so they began to celebrate this is what we do in the church when someone believes this is why we rejoice I talked uh uh Stacy this this week she she called and was asking about something um Stacy to me luck and um yeah she she went through membership in her church and in in Hawaii in Honolulu and her sons have believed just twin sons were about 14 and they both believed went before the session gave testimonies of saving faith and they believed they became members and they were baptized and she talked about somebody came up to her after the service and said we had tears in her eyes right this is why we we do this we celebrate even when people come into our church who are just transferring their membership we we do their membership vows before us because in the membership vows they say I am believing and trusting in Jesus alone for my salvation and all of us in our seats we celebrate with them we say yes god is it work and he saved us this person I'm so glad we don't say oh no another person right we celebrate and that's what we do this publicly membership vows and baptisms are a public thing we don't do those things in private because it encourages us and we celebrate like this man this man with the lost sheep and like this woman with the lost coin and like this father with with the lost son we we gather together and we celebrate over this so see see rejoicing is God not only is it appropriate for you to have joy over your own salvation not only is it appropriate for you to have joy over someone else's salvation and frankly everyone to have joy over someone else's salvation but also see rejoicing is God's and the angel's response when someone becomes eternally saved it's God's and someone and the angel's response when someone becomes eternally saved so Luke 15 seven I tell you Jesus says he's summarizing his parable after the woman with the lost coin I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one center who repents than over the 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent wink wink that's who don't think they need to repent or Luke 15 10 in the same way Jesus is summarizing the sheep parable in the same way I tell you there's rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one center who repents now know this each of you who have believed when you believe your belief was not unimportant to God in fact your belief was not unimportant to the angels in heaven when you believed when you were regenerated when you saw for the first time and you believed heaven rejoiced and God rejoiced and angels rejoiced there was a party in heaven God said put a ring on his finger and bells on his to whatever the best robe put that on him put that let's let's rejoice it is right for us to celebrate that's what Jesus is telling us when you you know it's not only that when you come before Jesus whether it's through death or his returning that when you see him face to face then he'll say oh yeah you okay well you believed yeah I gotta let you in I'm contractually obligated to let anyone in my presence who's believed in me that's not Jesus response that's not the father's response that's not the Holy Spirit's response that's not the angel's response their response was rejoicing when you believe they rejoiced and when you get there and when you're before Jesus there will be rejoicing them too not that Jesus will be surprised but it's like you made it I knew you would
but I'm so glad you're here you know I died for you you know I came to the earth for you now you're here task accomplished joy in heaven so know that just personally know that that's how God feels about you and you've got that little experience like the blind man who's been excluded by the world and Jesus goes and finds you and he says it's okay the one who matters most the son of man you've seen him and in fact he's standing here before you and those guys is my one of my professors would say Steve Brown they're just turkeys don't pay attention to them so know that so do you know this as well despite what's seen outside the church when one becomes a believer when someone doesn't rejoice the eternal well-being of a person once you know this have you ought to have heavens understanding of your own salvation and how joyous that is and how it's appropriate then and you're to know that everybody should have rejoiced when you came to faith including your unbelieving friends and neighbors and anyone else family when you see that response where they're not rejoicing know that that's figure blanks that's weird that's twisted and that's unkind that is not how it should be okay now be kind to those people with inappropriate responses understand they're inappropriate response they're blind they don't have eyes to see they're responding inappropriately but you know inside you are to know inside that is a weird response that they're arguing with me that they're not excited for me that I have eternal salvation the one thing I needed to accomplish in my life was to know Jesus and I know him now like Simeon in the temple right I can die in peace because I've seen my king my savior the one I've been awaiting for all my all my life you know we when we know Jesus we're ready we're ready there's nothing else to accomplish right but know that that's weird that's twisted that that's actually unkind I don't yell at somebody for their inappropriate response be gracious and kind and patient with them as they respond inappropriately but you know that's a weird response that should not be and the new heavens the new earth no one's going to see you and and and hear you talk about and Jesus saved me no one's going to say all really they're going to rejoice for you in that great He saved you and that's awesome and you know he saved me too and you're going to rejoice together but know that that's weird and that should not that's one of those things in this life that just that just should not be okay so um be kind of it just to be clear for you for those fewer blank filler alvers but be kind to those who inappropriately respond be kind to those who inappropriately respond and so that's that's just the case for us as Christians in life we all the time know what's true and we know things are not as they should be on the earth and we deal with it with kindness and and gentleness and patience and compassion toward those who don't understand the way things should be now in contrast number two number two in contrast the normal response of many to you're having received eternal salvation is not joy this is a passage about that okay John is writing and probably AD 90 is writing probably to Jews who have become Christians who have experienced the same thing as the blind man they grew up and they were covenant people grew up saying the same things as the Pharisees were disciples of Moses and they were going to the traveling to the temple these were probably people who didn't live in Israel um who were Jewish people outside of Israel who were believed in Jesus but this was their faith and they believed and they were excited about it and joyous about having eternal salvation and met the the Christ the Messiah the king that they have been waiting for for 600 years and their Jewish friends and family were not excited with them it was a response of not joy and John lays out this passage by inspirational Holy Spirit so they could know 60 years after Jesus death that Jesus endured this and that this blind man endured this too this is a normal response in the age in which we live the greatest thing that could happen to us has happened to us and nobody's happy about it except the people we see on Sunday morning so in contrast the normal response of many having your received your having received eternal salvation is not joy but is instead various forms of persecution various forms of persecution that's what you see in this chapter from various people in various ways so we're going to come through this passage so get your eyes in this text now we're just going to look at some of these responses that are forms of persecution that you and I endure that this blind man and to some extent also Jesus endured when this man became tremendously blessed with sight and you and I have become blessed with spiritual sight Jesus gave that to us he gave his eyes to see and that's how we saw the kingdom of God and believed that was Jesus worked in us so he did this he gave it to Holy Spirit we could see and we're rejoicing but others are not and they are displaying to us or giving it to us or giving us God they're persecuting us in various ways first ways we experience persecution is through a we tell people I believe in Jesus and I eternal life all my sins are forgiven first form of persecution is disbelief they put in our face I don't believe it that's discouraging isn't it right there's a common thing for a new believer maybe it's for you as well you can't came to faith and you start telling your friends and your relatives and your neighbors that kind of thing and they're like oh no you're one of those weirdos or you know that's yet a sorority sister it's at all so you're one of those born againers but it's disbelief you see this in verses 18 and 19 so look down verse 18 the Jews did not so so they're confronted with this man can say but they still disbelieve look verse 18 the Jews still did not believe that he had been born blind and it received his sight until they sent for the man's parents first 19 is this your son is this the one you say you that disbelief they're they're implying there's a claim that's being made that this man used to be blind and now he's not it's disbelief that this is true disbelief that this was a blind man and that now he sees and so they're claiming not only are some people in Jerusalem claiming that this man was blind and now sees but the their parents are part of this conspiracy as well that they're saying that he was blind and now he sees that so they say is this the one you say was born blind how is it that now he can see ever experienced this right you know you talk about you know I'm a believer in Jesus and people say oh I don't believe in that stuff it's talking to a guy general assembly I was in line at the Starbucks in the hotel and it's a very nice conversation that he's having I thought he was one I thought he was one of us standing there in line I found he's an engineer in town from Milwaukee and he was just he was kind of surprised and actually had a very positive impression of all these elders from the Presbyterian Church in America who were there in that hotel and since you got you know and so I talked to him a while about various stuff but I said what about you what you know you grew up in the church or what what are your thoughts on this and he said well you know as a typical Wisconsin person he said well I grew up Lutheran but I don't believe in that stuff anymore I think they're just stories right and yeah that's discouraging you know when we hear that from from folks but but it's a former person I don't I don't believe that you know I'm and I don't have to give any proof well I don't believe it either
next way next form persecution is inquisition inquisition and so it's not inquisition out of interest so that's not you know we have some negative connotations with that word inquisition and that's what we're talking about here inquisition when some somebody says you know something to us and we start asking them questions it's really I don't believe this prove it that's inquisition and so inquisition not inquisition out of interest or desire to be saved also but an inquisition to put you down and so we see this you know verses 8 and 8 through 10 12 15 19 26 verse verse his neighbor verse 8 look verse 8 his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked isn't this the same man who just said so they begin asking questions and then they come to him verse 10 how then were eyes open they demanded right so it's it's prove it they're they're inquiring of him verse 12 they inquire well where is this man that you say made you see to prove it 15 they're get this they're not just happy that he sees or see prove your stories true prove what you believe verse 15 therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he'd received his sight then the Pharisees come to the parents verse 19 verse 19 is this your son see all this inquisition question question question question question no one's just celebrating that this man can see they're putting questions to him giving him an inquisition verse 26 they asked him what did he do to you how did he open your eyes this man is being beaten down by an inquisition worn down question after question after question to beat him back to have him give up part of his story you and I have probably experienced this right when we say we're a Christian well why do you believe that when did you start believing that when did you live your brain at the door the questions that aren't really questions it's really persecution see third-former persecution attempts to discount what has happened and to discount your new behavior as a Christian the Pharisees say this man's not from God this is not a man from God sent from heaven who healed you the question what's happened and we experienced this see well I think Jesus is just a man or like this this guy is talking to him the line in June well I think those are just stories or your your your life is is put into question you know second Corinthians 5 17 such that we're new creations in Christ Galatians 5 22 and 23 since we have this fruit of the spirit why are you like this why are you doing that why do you go to church on Sunday well that's because you just want to be more oh yeah you're older than me right they're they're they're providing different pushback to us they're questioning why we're behaving differently why we believe like we believe indeed another form of persecution pressure pressure on you to abandon your faith and your testimony and proclamation of Jesus pressure on you pure pressure and and pressure specifically to have you give up your faith in Jesus to have you disown Jesus we see this in verse 17 they finally get that specific with this man it's not that they hate this man it's that they hate Jesus and that they're bothered that this man is a living testimony that Jesus is more than just a man they don't want that to be true they don't want Jesus to be king and leader of God's people because the Pharisees were that and if Jesus becomes that they get displaced right like the the counter workers in McDonald's they become a kiosk big Mac no special sauce what all right wait how do I get back on it's great it's a first 17 finally they turn again to the blind man how many times it's very after acquired they turn again to the blind and what have you to say about him we say he's a center in all our authority and all our leadership of this rule and all our study the Old Testament scriptures we say he's a center what do you have to say about him we dare you to disagree with us do you feel the pressure there this lone man who's kind of abandoned by all sits by himself and begs every day and that's how we feel sometimes we're in the workplace or we're in back with our family thanksgiving and not our families believers and and and we feel like we're all by our so what do you say about him so he's still going that you you still bent you still believe in Jesus and all that stuff huh you know there's pressure to disown Jesus there's pressure to give up our account of what's happened in our lives of what will be true for us when we die of why our lives are different now pressure what do you say of this man they ask him verse 24 look at verse 24 a second time they summon the man who had been born blind give glory to God that's how Jewish person invoking oath this is oath language in the Old Testament when they wanted to put someone under oath they said give glory to God this was said to Aiken give glory to God okay I took the stuff it's in in my tent very there but they say give glory to God we know this man as a center honor we want you to go honor to stand witness before God we know he's a center what do you say feel that pressure we've all experience as we know what that's like when our unbelieving friends are relative say this to us first 26 then they asked him they keep at it they keep pushing him then they asked him what do you do to you how did he open your eyes there's pressure this this report of mud and washing maybe hoping that he'd be ashamed of the simple story or that the incredible nature of it that he'd have mud rubbed on his eyes and then he could see he other form of persecution arrogance and insult we see that in this passage as well arrogance and insult here's the arrogance look at verse 28 so he won't give up this story he keeps saying it over and over he keeps testifying of Jesus and so they approach him in their arrogance let me say this verse 28 they hurled insults at him and said you are this fellow's disciples disciple that's an insult this fellow that's a distancing term right right that's a Bill Clinton this woman or that woman remembering called Monica that that woman that's a distancing term he knew her man he could have said Monica you didn't that woman when we say oh that that guy we're communicating we don't respect that person we don't say oh manny yeah manny is great oh if I didn't like manny I wanted to put him down and say oh that guy yeah yeah right that's a distancing term by the way I would say manny I don't say that guy for you um but they say you are this fellow's disciple they call Jesus this fellow they don't even name his name okay uh there's arrogance and then look what they did they're arrogance they say we we you hear that you hear that that swell up right we are Moses disciples so there's arrogance well I've studied science well I don't believe in anything I can't say well that's a lie right you brush your teeth you believe in fluoride um you breathe don't you you see that oxygen going into your lungs no you believe in lots of things you don't see but there's arrogance in that I don't believe in things that I can't see I don't believe in things that but I can't prove oh yeah can you prove you know that that your uh that your mother is your mother you know did you really have to do that before you you know what yeah did you did you get her birth yet did you have blood tests to make sure that she was your mother right um all kinds of things that we don't uh that we don't have to have proof for uh in that way uh in verse 34 um they insult him not only do we have verse 28 just John stayed in they hurled insults at him but so this they replied you were steeped in sin at birth
okay so they they just insult him that's the ad homin and argument right if you don't have anything substance to say just insult the person you're arguing with well your nose is big great yeah good argument there
you you were steeped in sin at birth and then they said here's the arrogance again verse verse 34 how dare you lecture us we experienced the arrogance as believers don't how dare you lecture us another form of persecution f exclusion and ostracism i didn't make spell ostracism i chose exclusion for your blank there it's exclusion and ostracism verses 22 and 34 so the parents don't say yes this son of ours was formed blind and he was made well by Jesus now they near the story and the son said yes Jesus made me see again okay um so but but we know verse 22 as parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews for the Jews that already decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was Christ would put out of the synagogue so there's exclusion that's offered to us for our faith in Jesus if they say if the parents say we believe our son was made to see because Jesus made him see they knew they would have been kicked out they would have been excluded likewise the blind man himself uh it is excluded verse 34 you were steeped in sin at birth how dare you lecture us and they threw him out and so we experienced that with friends we believe in Jesus and they exclude us maybe we're not their friend anymore or maybe they don't invite us to certain things anymore maybe our parents you know a maybe our brother or our sister that kind of thing we get excluded we get ostracized we get treated as difference this is something we experience a form of persecution exclusion and then G anger sometimes it's as much as this anger and false accusations anger and false accusations I was at I think my 25th high school reunion and one of my friends I from six great on uh newer and I start talking to her and her husband came up and and I think her she said I won't say her name because we're Facebook friends all I can't say I don't want to embarrass her husband but she said to me uh she said to you oh what do you do John and I said well I'm a pastor and she said oh that's nice and her husband had just come up and it was just you get his anger on his face he said well why why do you do that that stuff is you know this and that and I forget all what he said and my high school in middle school friend she actually kind of calmed her husband down she said I don't know what his name was Pete she said Pete lay out there you know lay off here she was embarrassed because there was this anger the can't you know so apparently her husband had had some kind of bad experience with the church or with someone Christian or something like that and he was angry he was angry about it but we see this anger coming from from the Pharisees all through this passage culminating that is in this statement to the blind man well you were steeped in senate birth
but we saw it in the story of the lost son as well right how's the older brother respond when the younger brother realizes my father is good and there's blessing with just serving my father and building up his estate and being with him I'm going to go back to him oh and he doesn't even have to treat me as a son my father is so good even if he doesn't treat me as a son even if he just treats me as one of his servants my life will be good and I'll be blessed just being a servant of my father that's how good he is and that's how our heavenly father is and but the older brother he's angry he's angry about this and he says verse of 1528 of Luke 15 Luke 1528 the older brother became angry and refused to go in and celebrate he's angry and he's pouting and he's he refused to go in so what do you do with this you've been saved you've been given eternal life now you have spiritual sights and able to believe like this blind man in verse 36 people should be happy with you they should be rejoicing as you are because you've known come to know the one true God and so number three remember remember this is your experiencing this in life disbelief persecution lack of joy if you're having a comes from ignorance and blindness comes from ignorance and blindness verse 29 the Pharisees admit this we don't even know where this man is from we're saying we know he's a sinner we're not offering any proof for that we don't even know where he's from there's ignorance and so when people get mad they're getting mad out of ignorance they know this is something they should be an expert on right what happens to you with when you die is pretty important everybody knows that if I've got this wrong that's the biggest mistake I would make in my entire life it's a bigger mistake than deciding to go electrical rather than logistical engineering right or vice versa whatever if you don't get right what's going to determine what what's going to determine what happens to you death that's pretty big and so people feel uncomfortable when you mention after death stuff because they realize I really haven't researched this and in fact that kind of avoided it and so there's there's an ignorance and so this anger or this response that we get comes out of that people recognize I'm not really an expert on this I should be and that makes me uncomfortable and they express it an anger or these various forms questioning inquisition trying to make you doubt at whatever and as Jesus says at the end of this passage the Pharisees disbelief and their persecution came out of their own spiritual blindness and so recognize that this response that you're getting is not from expertise it's not from a great sight or understanding or seen things that are true it's because they can't see things that are true and because they don't have expertise and that's where all this persecution comes from so realize this be confident in your own faith but also then gracious with those who don't have eyes to see you know it's like a blind man saying I know that's green you know just be patient there be patient there so therefore a since disbelief persecution lack of joy through your heavy internal life comes from ignorance and blindness a therefore maintain your joy over Jesus saving you maintain your joy be like this blind man time after time he just expresses his joy over and over and that's our lives you know this little microcosm here of our life we get asked over and over about our faith about what we believe and we say it over and over and we maintain our joy okay we keep we keep saying and now I see now I understand life and now I understand what's going to happen in the afterlife and I'm not afraid of death so we keep our joy we maintain our joy over Jesus saving of us be we maintain our beliefs in what we know to be true we know this is true we know this makes sense out of our life we know this makes sense in our souls we know this has relieved us of our guilt we know this has made us joyful all these things emphasize to us that we have understood it rightly we understand the Bible we read the Bible and it makes sense and we're reading the Old Testament we say wow this fits with the New Testament this is incredible and so we know this to be true we know we're seeing and so we maintain our belief even though most people around us don't don't believe we know this to be true and that's the story of this blind man he knows he was blind from birth he knows he talked with Jesus he knows Jesus put mud on his eyes and as he was first getting sight he saw that mud in the water as he was washing the water and he knows that now he sees and so it doesn't matter what anyone says to him it doesn't matter what persecution he gets he believes because he knows what's true this by the way is while the apostles die martyrs deaths they're told not to believe anymore or to die maintain your testimony of faith in Jesus and die or abandon your faith in Jesus and live and they all choose death except for John but reports argue he was boiled in oil and died old death exile but but why it's like you can do what to me whatever you want to do to me but I know I saw Jesus dead and then I saw him alive and we were in a sealed building and he walked through the walls and then we talked to him for 40 days and then I was standing there in Jerusalem on the Mount of Alps and he was taken from us and went into the class I saw that so do with me what you want but I know what's true and just because you didn't see it happen doesn't mean it's not true and so that's the same with unbelievers today just because they didn't see it happen doesn't mean it's untrue and so we believe we see we have all these things in our lives that screams is true and so we maintain our we maintain our belief and then see maintain your worship of Jesus we talked about this a couple of weeks before that's the result our eyes have been made to see so like this blind man we believe in Jesus and we worship him and then last lady D maintain your testimony that is proclaiming Jesus to others maintain your testimony proclaiming Jesus to others that's what this man does see all his verses there that's this man proclaiming his testimony Jesus made me see so we maintain our testimony see all his verses in revelation that's one of the key themes in the book of Revelation those who are believers and it uses this language maintain their testimony they keep proclaiming Jesus even if it costs them their life their lives so we know it's true we know it's true and that's that's what you see if you want to see it there it's in our declaration the gospel first sentence on the front part of your worship there John says then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now have come the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ for the accuser of her brothers your accuses them before God day and night has been hurled down they overcame him this is us believers how we overcome death we overcome we overcome Satan in death by the blood of the lamb the sacrifice of Jesus and by the word of their testimony okay we maintain in our testimony we think this is what I believe that Jesus blood has covered my transgressions and so we maintain our proclaiming of Jesus to others over and over again through our our lives we know you know what's true others are blind so keep proclaiming the truth about Jesus in your life with your friends with your relatives be like this blind man blind man despite what you face so it's just summarizing all this together you are right to have great joy about your salvation you're right to have great joy about your salvation secondly many out of blindness and ignorance will respond to your eternal salvation by persecuting you in various ways so many out of blindness and ignorance will respond to your joy and your salvation by persecuting you in various ways and then thirdly even so you should maintain your joy maintain your joy maintain your belief maintain your joy your belief maintain your worship keep worshiping him week after week day after day and maintain your proclamation of Jesus don't let the world and it's various forms of persecution and discouragement to you for your faith don't let that press you down be like this blind man maintain your testimony of Jesus let's pray