Faith Is...The Evidence Of Things Not Seen - [John 9]

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Dear God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us here this morning. Lord, we ask you to illumine us by your spirit as We dig into your word and Lord we pray that you would apply it in each and every one of our lives
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This evening as we hear from you in Christ's name. We pray. Amen Are your?
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optical faculties working I See most like all of you here.
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I think are able to see so you have vision and either with the help of eyes or Glasses I think all of you can see that there is a guy here up standing and speaking now for those of you who are younger
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I Want to make sure that what you are seeing connects with what's in your brain, you know sometimes when
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I was young I had the faculty of Looking and directing my gaze at an object
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But my brain is a little disconnected from what my eyes were sending me So this evening in case you're a little distracted
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Pay attention because I think the story that we are going to hear from John chapter 9 is a gripping story
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So even if you are very young, I want you to pay attention and then there are some sci -fi
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Advocates who who would claim that even though we are seeing things that seem to be real, you know
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That can't be because we are just a brain in a vat and there are some sensory Impulses being sent to it
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But you do see I am standing here the eyes that God has given you enables you to see reality as it truly is you have physical sight and Today in our passage, we're going to be looking at two types of sight that are very closely connected physical and then there's going to be the spiritual sight and Typically in an evening service we have people who all know the
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Lord and I'm going to talk about the sight that you have and Sometimes we as Christians having walked in this path many years
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Tend to sometimes not appreciate the sight that we have and as we look at the life of this person who gets new sight
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I want us to just look back and rejoice in the sight that God has given you So my purpose this evening is that you would worship
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God with gratitude for the spiritual truths that you now see by faith in Jesus Christ and As your heart wells up with gratitude.
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I want you to also Resolve to stand by faith In the calling that God has called you to or whether you have adversity or whether you do not
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So let me ask you or ask yourself. What are some things that you know today that you didn't know before?
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What are some things that you now see that you didn't see in the past I'm gonna give you some very simple questions that will
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You probably will shake your head But I want you to think back at the time when you didn't know this to be true. Think about questions like this
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Who is God? Who is God and as you look back?
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Did you before you came to know the Lord? Did you know him as your creator? Did you know him as the
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Holy God? Did you know him as the God before whom you were accountable? Did you know him as the
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God? Whom you ought to be praising with all of your being If you can look back at the time when you didn't know that and now you take it for granted that you know
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All of these things We should be grateful for that What are some of the other things what is the source of your pain and joy?
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What are things that you want to run away from on this world? And what are things that you run to today? Is that different than the objects that you used to think were?
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Problematic and the sources of greatest joy for you Or something even bigger why on earth are you here today?
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Where did you come from? And where are you going? Do you know that? if you do
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I want you to Rejoice with me because it is only by the agency of the
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Word of God and by the Spirit of God that has worked in You to give you that vision to see things that are
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Otherwise unseen in this world. So turn with me into your Bibles to John chapter 9 and You're going to pick up one event where Jesus gives sight or restores sight to a blind man and we are going to see how that translates into spiritual eyesight as well the context of John chapter 9
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It's it's best for us to Take a slightly bigger Frame of reference we could probably go through all of John, but I'll just pick from John chapter 5
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So you have a sense of what's happening when Jesus gets into the scene in John chapter 9 in John chapter 5
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Jesus comes down to Jerusalem and he heals a man who was a paralytic and then that once again is in the
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Sabbath and there is a confrontations with the Jewish authorities at the question his healing
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John chapter 6 you have the Feeding of the 5 ,000 and that happens up in the north
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John chapter 7 and 8 happened once again in the south and Once again, John Jesus is teaching and just in John chapter 8
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Verse 12 Jesus has said one of the I am's he's in 812.
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He says I am the light and He gives a extended teaching in the contrast between light and darkness in John chapter 8.
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So John chapter 8 7 is in the feast of tabernacles that happens sometime in September and The next chapter
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John chapter 10 is the feast of dedication which happens in December so you have like a two and a half month time frame between John chapter 7 and 10 and right here in the
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Probably closer to December is when this John chapter 9 event occurs It happens right after Jesus has taught about the huge dichotomy between light and darkness and That is between himself and Satan and he also talks about the children of the light and the children of the darkness
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So Jesus was already taught about this and here John chapter 9 is almost like an illustration of who this
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Light is and what light he gives to those who are his own So Jesus first will remove physical darkness or Blindness in the eyes of this one particular person and Through that process you will see how he also restores or grants spiritual eyesight to him and as we will see
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In in in the in the gospel of John we have a lot of symbolism John uses a lot of symbols or Jesus uses symbols, but John brings out those symbols to hunt for us to understand what the truth is
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So the question you ought to be asking me is Okay, John 9. I see we've heard read a man whose eyesight was restored
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Can we really draw the parallel there to say that there was spiritual eyesight restored?
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I Couldn't unless if the text itself said that to be the case and John will do that We will see in the beginning of John chapter 9 and event and right at the very end
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Jesus will explain what has happened when he restores eyesight. It wasn't just physical but it was spiritual also
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So you had to be careful when you look at a text of scripture and then you try to draw an application from it if the text does talk about Spiritual connection to a physical event then we should be able to draw that and and learn from it
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And I like I said John does that extensively throughout the gospel of John So tonight what we are going to do is we are going to look through the eyes of faith of The man born blind.
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So John 9 is a very big passage. Obviously, we won't be able to go through very Detailed very deep into each and every verse.
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We will cover through the whole swath, but primarily from the perspective of the man who was born blind, but has now received his sight and My purpose here is that you and I who have received salvation
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Who have had our eyes opened we can? Identify with this man in terms of what has happened and then feel encouraged this morning this evening in terms of what
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God has done And what we ought to do in our own walks with the Lord and in two weeks from now
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I'm going to come back and we look at the same passage and that time we will look at it from the eyes of Everyone else who was blinded through this event
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We will see the through the eyes of unbelief that the same event that Jesus has done will
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Blind those who thought they were seeing so we will not focus more on the eyes of disbelief
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But rather we will look at the eyes of faith and as I've titled it. This is the evidence of things not seen
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So the question like I said that I want you to be asking yourself as we go through this passage is what changed in my own?
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Spiritual eyes, and how does that prompt me to act toward God and toward others?
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One more caveat before we get into the passage This passage is heavily talking about the blind man who has eyesight
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You don't see Jesus throughout this passage. You will see Jesus acting right in the beginning there'll be some teaching and then you'll see
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Jesus right at the very end and it would seem almost like this is a story about the blind man rather than about Jesus, but It is not and I'll try to draw out how
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Jesus is the main person that is behind this whole event rather than the blind man and The context like I said right from John chapter 5 to John chapter 10
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There is a broader context of Jesus doing miracles maybe specifically in the
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Sabbath and there is An antagonism between the Jewish leaders and Jesus.
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So when the Jewish leaders are going to see the blind man They're going to see the man behind the blind man and they are going to respond
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In hate towards Jesus. So let's look at this passage.
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I have eight questions that I will Use to get into this passage.
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The first question is what caused your sight or what caused your
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Sight of faith and we will see that in the verses 1 through 7 Before I read it think about your blindness when you were once blind spiritually
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What caused you to see in this event, we are going to have something specific that happens
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That is connected to the physical and then that's that Physical event is going to be connected to the spiritual and I'm going to look at primarily the spiritual aspect
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When we apply it in our own lives It begins with a very interesting section and Maybe I'll use that as a jumping board for us this evening
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You see when you look around the world today. There is a lot of pain and suffering
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Right, all you had to do is turn on your TV watch the news read the internet and there's tons of suffering out there and we as humans are
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We want to know why why is there so much suffering and if you ask anybody on the street each person has his own idea of what this the reason for all suffering is if you asked a
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Buddhist he would say well, you know I know that pain is a problem and I need to somehow get past this pain and You know deal with pain if you look at Hindu, he would say, you know
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This is why there is suffering and this is the way we think we need to get past it. But the
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Bible has a very it has the true reason why there is pain and suffering and This is the question that the disciples are going to ask
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Jesus when they look at suffering and we'll read that in verses 1 through 7 As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth
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I'll be pretty tough if you were born blind and never got to see anything All your life you can't do much in those days if you were blind
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And so his disciples whom were following Jesus they asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind
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They want to know the reason the cause of suffering and pain Jesus answered it was not that this man sinned or his parents but that the works of God might be displayed in him
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Ah, let's let's Open up this disciples questions for a moment. So they they can see a physical suffering that this man is going through.
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He is blind blind from birth and They see a physical suffering and they say there must be a spiritual connection to this
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There they didn't they weren't a naturalist in the Jewish first century In Jerusalem, they understood there was a
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God they knew that these were not random acts there was some purpose to all of these things and if there was pain and suffering then
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Sin must be somehow involved were they right? Yes, because our
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God is not a wicked Ogre who just sends pain and suffering to everybody just because he pleases it pleases him
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So they know that God is a God of love and he is our creator. And so there is
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Suffering and it must be connected in some way with sin so far so good now
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This is where the disciples stretch themselves a little bit further now. They want to know what specifically caused that suffering
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So that suffering ought to come from either this man, you know, if he did something wrong then his he should face the consequence for the sin or maybe it was his parents because You know, it's kind of hard to be sinning before you're even born, right?
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Although there were some Jewish people who thought that in the womb you could have sinned and therefore you could have gotten the consequence
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Right after you were born so it's either this baby in the womb that sinned or it is his parents because we do have in the
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Old Testament some of the Concepts of sin being visited the curses of the consequences of sin visiting upon the children
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So, where is this? I want to know I want to know the mechanics I want to know the process by which this particular suffering has come to pass and Jesus basically says hold your horses, you know, there are certain things that you cannot know
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It is true that it is through Adam's fall that sin and suffering have Entered the world and because of this mess that our world is in we do have suffering which is in a myriad of ways
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That we really can't explain and Jesus says there is something else you ought to be looking for and what is that?
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This has happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him Jesus is not saying here that God deliberately made this man blind
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So that he can wait all these years and eventually receive his sight this man
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Was blind and yet what God has to do in this particular moment is going to showcase the power
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And the goodness of God in a world of suffering and sorrow So let's look at verse 4
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He says we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day night is coming when no one can work
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Jesus here is on earth three and a half years and while he's here. He is Executing the work of God.
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He is the light he has spoken about in John 8 12, and he is now going to do the work of Of God while he's here
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There is going to come a time when he's going to be put on the cross and crucified and there is going to come night But while he is here, he must do the work and he says in verse 5 as long as I am in the world
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I am the light of the world Having said these things he spat on the ground and made mud from saliva
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Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him go wash in the pool of Siloam Which means scent and so he went and washed and came back seeing
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We've already seen that the sin Was the cause of suffering all across in the world?
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But this particular man's suffering could not be so linearly tracked to whatever sin this man or his parents did now
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Another way of looking at this whole issue is Is this fate?
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Let's not ask a broader question It's the event that is happening in the lives of this in the life of this blind man ruled by laws that are set in motion and just automatically happening if you want to See why
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I'm asking this question think like a Pharisee a Pharisee had rules He said, you know You do these things and you're pleasing to God and you do these things and then you are
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Getting certain things as a result And so the question that is being asked is are there a certain set of rules that are in Governance of this universe that is bringing to pass all these events.
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So rabbi teacher Jesus What rule is in effect here that is causing this to happen and Jesus is going to turn them around on their head
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This has nothing to do with specific rules or laws in motion but it has to do with a
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God who loves and cares and is in the world and Deeply cares for the person who is going through that suffering it
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It is true that God reveals himself What he what he what pleases him through the law that was revealed in the scriptures
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But what had happened was the people were so fixated on the law that they added to it
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They figured out a lot more ways in which these laws could operate the mechanism of how they think God operated that soon enough
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They had cut the God off this universe from how things were Working in life and when
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Jesus Says something about this person for us. We want to look at what it means to the elect
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You and I as Christians know that when suffering happens to you sometimes it can be a consequence of sin, but none of the sufferings none of the trials that come your way are
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Just a set of random laws that happen just because it had to be so Every single suffering every single trial that comes in your way is
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Purposeful God puts them in your way for his express purpose He allows them that he may showcase his glory in your life couple of examples
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Genesis 50 20 You know the story of Joseph the brothers throw him into a ditch. He gets into prison.
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He's Suffers a long time but ultimately God uses him for his purpose
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There was a there was a cleansing process that happens in Joseph's life But eventually God raises him up and showcases his goodness to the nation through this one man 1st
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Peter 4 19 those of us who suffer according to the will of God We want to commit to God our
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Creator because he is faithful to us Now in this particular case in verses 4 and 5
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Jesus says something more he says I am the light of The world and I have come to do the works of him who has sent me.
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What does the word light mean? The word light primarily here refers to the revelation that Jesus brings into the world
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He is the one who reveals who God is to us He is the Word of God who has who is here to reveal
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God to us He is also light in the sense that he is pure and holy But here in the specific sense it talks about the revelation of God And the way in which
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Jesus ministers is also unique in verses 6 and 7 we see that he spits on Dust make some clay
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Annoyances man's eyes and then he says go and wash the man goes and washes and he is healed
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There are many who speculate why Jesus would do this In fact, if you look at many of the healings of Jesus when it comes to blindness some of them have to do with spit some of them have to do with him putting his hands on their eyes and Every single way is different.
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There is no particular method for For healing the eyes of a blind man and when you think of blindness as well
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Did you know one of the marks of the Messiah we heard this morning he would Set the captives free and he would
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Give sight to those who were blind In fact when John the Baptist is in prison He comes his disciples come and say are you the one or is there someone else who is to come and one of the things?
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Jesus says is the blind have received their sight and Jesus here is Demonstrating his
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Messiah hood in terms of this Relieving or our healing of the blindness.
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In fact, if you look at the Old Testament, you don't have any blindness like this You have temporary blindness that would get
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Both imposed and then removed but here you have Jesus very uniquely ministering in removing the blindness
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Now if the story ended right here everybody would have been happy, you know, the blind man would have been happy the
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Pharisees wouldn't have cared as much and there wouldn't have been any conflict But this is not where the story ends.
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In fact where we think the physical suffering ends May actually be the beginning of a lot more suffering to come in the life of this man who has received his sight
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So think back at your own faith think back at your own sight before we move on to the next section
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We have God in the flesh Jesus Christ Involved in the life of this one man who was caught in suffering and his direct agency gives life gives sight to this
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This this man who was once blind and when you were once in darkness
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There was only one person who was able to give you the light of life
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And that was Jesus Christ himself and whatever the way in which God worked in your life to grant you faith
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I'm sure is unique just like how Jesus put us put this fiddle and the mud on this on this particular man's eyes
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But we can always look back and thank God for what he has done I want to make one more note before we move right here.
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This man is not saved All he has received is physical sight in fact here we had to go right at the end of the passage to see that this man genuinely has
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Recognized Jesus as Lord and bows down and worships him but through this process
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God has done something in this man's life and this is going to Snowball as his understanding of who
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Jesus is grows and eventually he will worship him as his God So the second question that I want to ask as we get into verses 8 through 12 is what did you testify in?
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Faith when you came to know the Lord, what was it that you said? I testified to this
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You see when Jesus gives you sight you are a different person But there are many many claims to healing, you know, some of them are real some of them are sham
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What exactly is it that you went through? Let's look at what happens in this person's life and then we will we will make that connection
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In verses 8 through 12 We read the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying is this not the man who used to sit?
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And beg some said it is he others said no, but he is like him and he kept saying
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I am the man so they said to him how then are your eyes opened and he answered the man called
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Jesus made mud and Anointed my eyes and said to me go to Siloam and wash so I went and washed and received my sight
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They said to him. Where is he? And he said I do not know So what's the proof of the healing?
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Most of us want evidence we want data. We want to look at things What is the proof that the blind man was healed it is a person you have the man here
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Who's who's saying I was blind and I can see now Now now think about the question
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There are two groups of people here in verse 8 one is the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar beggar
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Obviously as a blind man He had no other profession that he could get involved in and so he was begging when
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Jesus finds him and heals him So there are two groups those who knew him a little better Possibly because they lived close to him neighbors see him all the time and then those who probably walked by as he used to beg and and they've seen him and Sometimes when you see a person
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With a certain defect all their life. You pretty much associate those things together
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You know if if you had a paralyzed man, I mean take Stephen Hawking, you know, if you have
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Stephen Hawking working on new Very complicated things in his wheelchair and all of a sudden he's comes here and he's walking and talking about the
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Lord It'll be a little difficult for you to connect the two people together, right? Because all you can associate is with that defect that he always had
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So these people look at this and say well, you know, this can't be that person and they doubt it because This is not natural in our world
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If you had a person who was born blind There was absolutely no way for that person to receive their sight.
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So even if he looks a lot like that person There is really this is not natural. There is really absolutely no way this person can be like him
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So we would even discount what we see Because it does not fit our worldview and And so what is the evidence that can be presented to convince you to think otherwise about this man?
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And that is the testimony. So this man says I am he I'm the one who was blind and I now can see
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All right, he talks like him. He sounds like him. So tell me more. How exactly did you get your sight?
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Um We want to understand how this can happen because this is inexplicable to us
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The man is very concise but very clear Jesus did this He spit made the clay put it on my eyes and he said this go and wash in the pool of siloam
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I just obeyed and I got what I what he promised Uh, and his emphasis here is not that I went and washed and I received my sight look how good
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I am That's not the point. I mean the whole passage reeks with this Jesus this and he calls him the man they call who is called jesus
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He did these things and he told me to do this and I went and I received what he promised
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Uh, there is there is an emphasis on this person who did this miraculous work in in his life
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And also I want to just point one more thing what exactly does he attribute Jesus to be the man called jesus if you think about it.
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He has actually not seen jesus yet He has heard him when jesus commanded him He probably heard about jesus because jesus has been in the area before doing other great things.
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But all he knows is The man called jesus. This is what others have been telling him, uh about jesus so the the neighbors and those who knew him say well
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Enough. Okay. I your testimony is good as far as it goes now We need to get to the source of the miracle.
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We want to get to jesus. Where is jesus? And the man says well have no clue. I Just received my sight.
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I haven't found him yet and and many a time when you and I, uh
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If you can think back at the time when we got saved, there's probably not a lot you knew about the whole
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A beauty of this man called jesus in his attributes in his glory and his power
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But he has done something in your life and he that is all you can testify to that. God has worked in my life
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You could you could say that I am changed he I'm the same person in one sense
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But I was once blind and now I see and for some of you who've probably grown in a christian home
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Maybe became believers very young. It may be hard to look at that distinct faces of you know
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Being blind and acting in blindness But you can see that you now see and you can rejoice in that goodness that god has done so when you think of what you testify to is that God has changed me and how he has changed you and how he has grown you is cause for great joy
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Question number three what opposition to faith did you meet we see this in verses 13 through 17
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You see when you live by faith in jesus christ You're not living by sight.
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You're not living for just practical reasons you live by faith in jesus christ The world is not going to love you
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We see that begin in verses 13 through 17 You can almost see the drum rolls as the tension is going to mount in verse 13
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We read they brought to the pharisees the man who was formerly who had formerly been blind Now it was a sabbath day when jesus made the mud and opened his eyes
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So the pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight and he said to them He put up he put mud on my eyes and I washed and I see
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Some of the pharisees said this man is not from god for he does not keep the sabbath But others said how can a man who is a sinner do such signs and there was a division among them
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And so they they said again to the blind man What do you say about him since he has opened your eyes and he said he is a prophet
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When you think of verse 13, uh, what why do you think these people took the blind man to the pharisees?
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Did his neighbors hate him so much that they wanted to have him in trouble Now think about it.
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Here is a once in a lifetime or once In an event that has never ever happened before in history, uh, if you were a leper and you were healed of your uh leprosy
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What were you supposed to do in the old testament? You would go to the priest have him examine you make sure
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That you were actually truly healed and then give an offering and here you have Something even greater something even more marvelous that has happened and the people can see this is not just some
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Doctor physically who has given a new pair of eyes. There is some spiritual connection Jesus has been going around teaching.
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He's been doing miracles and proclaiming that he was He was the messiah and This thing needed someone who is more capable to examine and see what was actually going on And they bring them to the pharisees.
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This is although this is in the jerusalem environments. This is probably a synagogue
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A teaching place where there were qualified men pharisees who would expound the law
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So they are they bring them to them saying can you figure out what exactly is going on? But of course the problem here was not just that there was a miracle that happened
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But that miracle happened on a particular day, which the pharisees do not like and that was the sabbath uh, and so for this for the pharisees, even though this was a
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Tremendous miracle It doesn't fit their system and there is a problem that needs to be dealt with but they can't outright reject what has happened because here is something that is
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Supernal it is remarkable. So how do we deal with this? So thus begins the inquiry into the event
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So the pharisees come together and say let's now try to find out what exactly happened.
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Is this of god or is it not? Their purpose their stated purpose is to seek the truth.
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They want to know what happened But are they coming here truly wanting to learn or are they coming here with a
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Predetermined mind you see right here in the pharisees camp. You have a group you have two camps
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You see this in verse 16 There some of the pharisees were saying
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He's not from god because he doesn't keep the sabbath and others said how can a sinner perform such miraculous signs
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And if you think about it If you were a pharisee, what would you be doing? You have a man who comes and does a remarkable miracle that is just blows your mind away
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But he is doing it in opposition to what you currently believe What is the right way to deal with this now, let me put you in the pharisees mind in the pharisees minds they have the
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What they believe is the word of god and they had Accrued to the word of god things that They had written to it.
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But for them the word the old testament and everything else that they had written had become so inseparable that they could no longer see the difference between the bible and their editions
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So they now have the revealed word of god what god has declared from eternity past and Revealed through his prophets.
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They have it on this side and then they have experience Of what they have actually seen and now
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Which would you weigh more heavily would you put experience over scripture or would you say scripture trumps experience?
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For those of you biblically trained you should know the answer the bible trumps experience all the time
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So what exactly was the problem here? It wasn't the word of god that they were relying on but it was on their false
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Tradition that had been added to the word. So that's the that's the struggle that these pharisees are going through And so those who say jesus is a sinner they claim
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Uh that the sabbath is more important. Does does god honor the sabbath?
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Absolutely, but What exactly did it mean to dishonor the sabbath? We will see that as we get closer, uh into this text and then there are others who said he's he can't be a sinner because they see a mighty work of god in this person's life and they say
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This is this can be true. So while there is a division within the pharisee at camp They basically throw up their hands and say
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All right We give up you're the man who got healed. What do you have to say? That just shows the level of frustration they have because they really can't solve a problem of this magnitude on their own
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And they say so you you've experienced something. What do you have to say and the man confesses he is a prophet he initially said uh the man they call jesus and as he
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Reflects on what god has done in his life. He can see that nobody can do this unless he were sent by god
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So he must be a prophet sent by god. He has experienced god's hand in his life and he gives glory to god
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And at this point he still doesn't know more that's as far as he has he has gotten to understand who jesus christ is
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Uh when we think about the division that happens and that is throughout the gospel of john You will see that when jesus does some mighty work.
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There will always be some who will Rejected who will actually turn away from god because of what jesus does and jesus actually promised that in luke 12
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That he brings division as a result of His work so think about the opposition to faith that you
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Initially meant met when you became a believer. Um, we will see this more as the opposition grows stronger but Did you find that strength that this man had when you came to know the lord
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There are certain things that god does in your life that you suddenly say well, you know, it doesn't matter Before I wouldn't care so much whatever people told me
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I would just go along but when god Changed my life and he restored sight to me. I would now stand up for things that uh,
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I didn't in the past before and we will we will pick this again as the Persecution intensifies later.
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Let's pick the fourth question. What did your friends testify of your faith? Here we're going to see the parents testimony and we will see that in verses 18 through 23
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It says the jews then did not believe it of him so the pharisees here, um, they say well
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You are a biased guy. You've gotten something you are trying to sell something. We don't want to listen to you We're going to find some people who are more neutral.
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So Um, you you probably were never blind in the first place. So they called the parents and Of the very one who had received his sight and questioned them saying is this your son who you say was born blind?
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Then how now does he how does he now see his parents answered them and said we know that this is our son
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That he was born blind But how he now sees we do not know or who opened his eyes. We do not know ask him he is of age
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He will speak for himself His parents said this because they were afraid of the jews for the jews had already
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Agreed that if anyone confessed him to be the christ He was to be put out of the synagogue. And for this reasons his parents said he is of age ask him um
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You know in those days They don't keep records of all the children who are born with different defects and then you know
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You can go back and verify that this person was blind when he was born, but they do know who his parents were And The parents were called in and the questions are very simple your son who was born blind.
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How did he see? the parents obviously Can recognize their son although he has received his sight.
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This is our son. He was born blind but We want to take the safe path.
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We don't know how first of all, they probably weren't there when jesus healed so they could semi honestly answer that we do not know because they are probably hearing second -hand testimony, but They they throw the ball back at their son, you know, he is of age ask him um, we don't want to get into trouble and we want to stay in the synagogue
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This tells you a little bit of the undercurrent story that is happening already I mentioned that jesus is not there effectively in this passage right up to the very end but Uh, there is strong opposition to jesus that is happening.
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Although this man is the one that is being questioned Uh, essentially anybody who aligns with jesus is going to get kicked out of the synagogue and that's that's the problem and the parents
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Can see this man. They see that something radically has changed they can acknowledge that this blind man now sees huge difference but they can't stick their faith upon saying that This was connected to jesus because they do not have
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They have not experienced the work of god in their own lives. We'll see more about what this happens next time but when it comes to The parents there's one thing that they can testify to is that this person is radically different And that's that's pretty much seals the testimony as far as the pharisees go because they have no out here they can't anymore pretend like this man was not a blind man that he somehow is uh, uh sham who is trying to give some
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Points for jesus on the side. This is a real and genuine miracle that has happened And when you think about your own faith, what exactly did your friends testify of you?
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Were you different? When god had done a work in your life Maybe people didn't like it.
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Maybe they didn't want to say, you know, this is the great work of god But were you different were you a person who would now see when you didn't see before?
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Uh, you see in in the especially in the gospel of john But throughout the scriptures you will see that when god does the work in your life
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Your life will be radically different. There will be difference like light and darkness day and night in the lives of those whom god works
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Because when god the light works in you, uh, your life will be light Let's move on to the next question
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Did you count the cost? Before you confessed your faith.
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Did you count the cost before you confessed the faith and this gets to the uh, the Climax if you will of the conflict between the blind man and the and the and the pharisees so this is the last chance blind man, you can
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Re -examine what you have said you can recant or if you don't you're going to face the consequences of your
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Testimony So verse 24 we see the second time the man is brought in and then they say give glory to god
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We know that this man is a sinner um Let me just uh without reading.
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I think we've read this before. Let me just tell you what's going on here So they say give glory to god. What exactly are they saying?
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Are they saying, you know, just praise god for the great and good and mighty work that has happened in your life No, this is more like the joshua 5 scenario where they're saying, you know, put your hand on the bible and You better tell what we tell you to tell otherwise
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You're going to face a court -martial Um and and exactly what exactly did they want him to say they say we know this man is a sinner you see earlier in the fact -finding phase the
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Pharisees were trying to figure out and they said, you know, there is something that is happening here You have two camps. Maybe one of the camps are smaller.
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We don't exactly know what happened But when we come to verse 24 They are united against jesus.
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This is no longer an issue of this one man who has received his healing It is about the man called jesus who is at work here and we need to set our opposition against him
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So before you even say anything Listen from us He is a sinner
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So now that you've heard it tell me what you think about jesus. That's that's basically what's going on They have the pressure of their position that is being put upon this man before he is to testify before uh the synagogue
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And then you see this man Given the words by god, uh,
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I I wish I could speak like this in a trial Uh, he he in verse 25. He says whether he's a sinner or not.
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I do not know He has not even met jesus, uh, other than that one encounter
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But one thing I do know I was blind and now I see
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There's nothing nothing that can be done to controvert that they've already Validated that this man was a genuine blind man born from birth unheard of that that can be healed and here is a man
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Boldly proclaiming I don't care if you say he's a sinner or not This has happened to me and I will give glory to god, but not the way that you thought
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I should And here happens a very interesting table turning
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Now think about it who was on trial up until this moment It seemed like the man was on trial, right?
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What exactly I mean this guy was lying he's not even blind I think I mean that's what the people thought then the table shifted to uh, jesus because He's the sabbath breaker.
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Ultimately, you know, whether this man was just a Innocent bystander who got pulled in but now the tables turn because The people who are on the dock are the pharisees themselves uh
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What does he say in verse 26? Uh Well, they they ask in 26.
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What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes and he answered them? I have told you already and you did not listen
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Why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his disciples too. Do you?
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This man who probably had no theological position before he was healed. He was just a beggar, you know
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Hearing stories about jesus. Jesus did something to him He knows there's something remarkable and he probably wants to know more about jesus
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But as he sees what is happening he can see that these people are Hypocritically trying to turn away.
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They're not looking to find what the cause is. They had asked the same question to him before They're asking the same question again
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They have no clue what is going on except that they are predetermined to label jesus as a sinner and what is working in the life of in the minds of this blind man is
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I can see that you are sham you have no idea you are not working
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Truthfully to find out who jesus christ is and that is fairly obvious to this man and he says you guys are not listening
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I'm talking to you, but you're not Listening and uh, he basically mocks them with sarcasm saying you don't want to be his disciples too.
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Do you? and uh at this point things change so the pharisees um
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Attacked the guy they say Uh, you are his disciples we are moses now there is a there's a strong divide the the emphasis of the language here is you know
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Putting down this man and say you are this disciple of this sinner jesus What we are the disciples of moses and what is the what is the dichotomy between moses and jesus that they have?
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they say um, we know that god has spoken to moses and what they mean by that is we have we have the revelation of god in The scriptures that moses is handed down to us and that we can trust because we know it is certified authenticated from god
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But what's the problem with jesus we do not know where he is from Do not know where he is from now.
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There is actually a little bit of a Contradiction in their own terms if you look at some of the earlier, uh sections of john you will see where they will say
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Oh, this man is from nazareth What good comes out of nazareth, you know He had to come from bethlehem or he had to be out of the line of david
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We we know this this town. He comes from is not a big place and then they would say When the messiah comes no one would know where he is from But here as it suits them they would just say well this guy is a nobody we don't really know who this guy is
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He doesn't deserve our um, he can't be anybody important sent by god
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Plus he was breaking the sabbath but They want to deride jesus, but this man turns this back up and he says well that is amazing
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Uh, here is a guy, uh whom you do not know where he is from and yet he opens my eyes. So How do you explain it you are the pharisees you're supposed to understand these things and you're just uh giving me no reason why
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I should Um come down and call this man a sinner and he says and he gives a theological lesson for the pharisees at this point he says uh
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A we know that god does not hear sinners and that is very true God does not hear sinners.
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Um, and yet he opened my eyes Let me just read that section he does not
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Hear sinners, but he opened my eyes and we know And if anyone is god fearing and does his will god hears him
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And from the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of the person born blind And if it were not from god, he could do nothing
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Um Think about this. Um, I I didn't mention one verse earlier in deuteronomy 13 1
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Uh, we hear about miracles that are done by false prophets
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How do you how is israel supposed to respond when god does when there is a mighty miracle that is true
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But it is done by a false prophet. What is the way you would find out that this was not a genuine person to follow
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Follow The answer is very simple. Uh, he does something that is that is a genuine miracle or genuine sign or wonder
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But he is now leading your people away from god So that's the way that you would determine that this work which is done
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Which is mighty is disconnected from the work of god because that person is drawing you away from god And here is where this thing gets worked out is jesus drawing people away from god or is he actually drawing them to god and so this
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Untrained a blind man gives them a lesson in what is actually going on. He says, um
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You know that a genuine miracle can be done by only god. He obviously probably doesn't know
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Deuteronomy 13 that well, but he knows enough to say that this is a thing that nobody has done.
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This is not the kind of egyptian pharaohs magicians who do these tricks after moses's staff, this is not just a a huckster type of thing that has happened and To me because god has done this in my life.
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It seems that this comes from god and This is what I believe and if the pharisees were genuinely after the
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Bible, they honored god. They honored the word they would say well, let me show you Why you shouldn't
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What is the response of the pharisees because here is someone who's guilty who is having a hypocritical?
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They know there is something going on But they they they don't want their eyes are still blinded and they don't want to acknowledge who jesus christ is and when the
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Arrows get closer to where they are instead of being the judges. They are now getting to the dock and the only thing they can resort to is
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Ad hominem, they want to go against the man They basically get down to the level of name calling in verse 34 and they said to him you were surely born
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Entirely in sins and are you teaching us and they put him out So if you remember the earlier question the disciples asked, um, who sinned that this man was born blind uh, the pharisees implicitly admit that this man was born blind when they say that you were a sinner born in sin and they have a theology that his sins were what caused that, uh cost his suffering and Basically, we don't have an answer, but we wouldn't have any more with you.
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You are excommunicated Historically, it is still not exactly clear what that meant because this is a very early phase
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It could have been a temporary as communication or a permanent as communication Which what happened more later in in the first century that became more common as the christians grew
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Larger, but it seems like at this phase as the pharisees were struggling with jesus and those who would go after him that was a
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Process they had for those who would follow jesus as john tells us So, let me ask you did you count the cost before you confessed your faith
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If you came from a background like this blind man did from a jewish Tradition or a catholic tradition or a tradition that was would hold you very strongly if you would confess something that is
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Contradictory to what you were taught you probably would get kicked out, too um, I know some of you probably left such places where you
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Face those types of persecution. Maybe it was in the family. You belong to a church family that believed a certain um certain teaching and then when you when god opened your eyes and Revealed himself to you and when you had to say that this is what god has done in my life uh, you might have faced those types of persecutions where maybe you were ostracized kicked out but What made you stand?
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firm in your faith That's basically the title that I have from hebrews 11 1 no faith
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There's a substance of things hope for the evidence of things not seen you did not see jesus standing in heaven
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Um in a beatific vision and said wow, I see this In fact, that wouldn't be enough.
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We've heard in first peter that peter said there's something even more stronger than that Um, but god has worked in your life and the words of scripture have become genuinely true in your life there is nothing nobody who can
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Strip your faith away from you You will be able to stand because what god has done in you is genuine
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And it will weather the storms of trials no matter what they were um, and i'm so far i've been talking in the past because I think many of us are
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Have been in the faith for a long time. We probably endured these trials I don't know how many of you are new believers here.
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So if that is a path that you will have You need to keep your eyes on jesus christ who has opened your eyes and he will take you through those storms
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Because those storms Definitely will come at the very least
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If you start talking about your faith in your workplace or among your neighborhoods, you will probably hear that from there question number
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Uh six we'll we'll quickly move through the rest of the questions So whom did you worship when you were given faith?
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So let's let's think about this. Is the physical help enough? Is just your need your blindness the physical blindness sufficient to be healed or is there more?
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There is more you need to have jesus. So when this man gets kicked out jesus comes and finds this man again
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So this this formerly blind man has now lost his place in corporate worship. He can no longer go and worship um in the in in the jewish, uh manner that was called before and then jesus comes here and talks to him and he says
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Do you believe in the son of man? The son of man is very unique because in the gospel of john you will very rarely find this term.
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It comes from Daniel which talks about the messiah who is to come and he's saying do you believe in the messiah and And and what he actually asked this man in john 9 is different than what he speaks in john 5 in john 5
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He see a man who is paralyzed for 38 years who is now healed and jesus comes and tells him, you know, stop sinning um
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Don't sin anymore and uh here he comes and says do you believe? Uh, and this is not just a intellectual belief the kind of things that you've heard about But are you willing to put your trust and your faith in this?
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son of man Uh, the blind man probably can recognize the voice that he has heard before but Uh, his response is humble.
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He says who is he sir that I may believe in him Uh, and he's basically
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I want to believe let me know who he is And then jesus says you have seen him.
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Imagine that you receive your eyesight and All you have seen this far is venomous pharisees who have just been trying to tear you down And now you see the son of man the messiah himself and I am the one who is talking with you
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And then the man falls down lord I believe and he worships him once again very different response than john chapter 5
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We don't have time to look into this but uh, a physical healing does not guarantee your spiritual salvation what god does here is a
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Mightier miracle when his heart is regenerated to respond in faith um and and this man here has lost his place in jewish society and is willing to submit and and To the lordship of christ and everything else and likewise for you when you worship jesus in faith
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You may lose all But you have everything in christ as you worship him question seven whom did you trust the self or Christ and this uh, we'll go quickly through we'll look at it next time
57:30
There is a judgment that happens in verses 39 to 41 Jesus basically concludes this whole event
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He begins by talking about the light of the world come to do the work of god And here he now says when this whole event is completed
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For judgment I have come into the world so that those who do not see may see But those who see may become blind and he's talking about a reversal of blindness and sight
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And that was the purpose in john 3 16. God came here To save those who are lost.
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So those who are sinners are saved by god whereas those We will see who are
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Self -righteous are condemned. Uh, it's very interesting the pharisees There are still some pharisees sticking around seeing what's going on with this blind guy and they say well
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Fine enough fine that this man now has received his sight, but don't call us blind And he says well if you acknowledged if you are humble enough to recognize that you do not genuinely see the truth
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There you could be saved. But now that you would call yourself Being able to see you no longer
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You are rejecting the way of salvation of that comes only through a humility to acknowledge and repent of your sin
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So as we conclude I I just want to remind every single christian here you have an eyesight that You didn't have before and many don't in the world today
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And the reason you have that Is because god gave that to you And throughout your christian walk whether it were you are testifying to god's work
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Whether it was the opposition that you met whether it is the people that around you that can see the change.
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Um you want to remember that it is Uh a supernatural
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A mighty work of god that you now enjoy the riches of god's treasures in the word and god himself
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And so we want to we want to thank god today for what he has done. And we also want to say What is it that I would live for today as I fix my eyes upon jesus
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Will I stand up for my faith like that blind man did when the trials come let us walk in the light of jesus
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Having sight because of his work In us, let's pray dear god our heavenly father.
01:00:04
We thank you for your son Who came to seek and save the lost? We thank you for your mighty work of redemption in each of our lives
01:00:15
Help us oh father to Constantly be grateful For your goodness and your love and your power
01:00:24
Help us to walk by faith Seeing you Fixing our eyes upon you and living our lives in light of your light in jesus name.