Seeing Sickness Through God's Eyes | Sermon 06/25/2023

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John chapter 9, Gospel according to John. That's after Luke in your

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Bible. We're going to be in verses 1 -12 today. Verses 1 -12.

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And the title of this sermon today, church, is Seeing Sickness Through God's Eyes.

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Seeing Sickness Through God's Eyes. Starting in verse 1, the

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Gospel according to John chapter 9. Hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true

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God. As he passed by, he saw a blind man from birth.

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And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?

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Jesus answered, it was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

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We must work the works of him who sent me, as long as it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.

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While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And when he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him,

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Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated scent.

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So he went away and washed and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors and those who previously saw him as a beggar were saying,

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Is this not the one who used to sit and beg? Others were saying,

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This is he. Still others were saying, No, but he is like him. And he kept saying,

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I am the one. So they were saying to him, How then were your eyes opened?

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He answered, The man who is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes, and said to me,

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Go to Siloam and wash. So I went away and washed, and I received sight.

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They said to him, Where is he? He said, I do not know. Thus ending the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray, church.

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Lord, I ask that you would be with us this service, that you would show your goodness to your people in a tangible way.

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God, I pray that your love for us will wash over us now.

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God, help us to be matured by the word that we hear today.

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Lord, help us to be encouraged. Help us to move forward in this life, Lord, with confidence, because of what we see here and what

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Jesus did. I pray this in his holy name. Amen. Amen. So, John 9 opens us up to a new section in the fourth

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Gospel. We have the high theology and pulling back of the veil of eternity in the prologue in John 1.

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And then at the end of chapter 1 through John 4, Jesus gained

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His disciples at the end of chapter 1, and then He performed all these signs over those several chapters.

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He turned water into wine in chapter 2. He cleansed the temple with authority.

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And the discussion with Nicodemus happened in chapter 3. John the

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Baptist said that he ought to decrease and Jesus needs to increase.

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Then we have in John 4, the woman at the well and the Samaritans believing in Jesus.

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Then we came to the intense confrontations and even self -disclosures of Jesus' divine identity in John 5.

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From there, we had the feeding of the 5 ,000, multiplying bread and fish in the

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Galilean wilderness. And then we saw that Jesus walked on water in the midst of a storm, treads on chaos in chapter 6.

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Then He said, I am the bread of life during Passover when everyone's got bread on the mine.

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Jesus says, I am the bread of life. He who eats of Me will never hunger.

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And then we have that amazing moment after Jesus' own brothers mocked

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Him and said, why don't you go down to Jerusalem? Show yourself to the world, they said. And Jesus went on His own timing,

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God's timing, and when He went, He went to the Feast of Booths or what's called the Feast of Tabernacles.

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And when they were doing the water ceremony and they finished it and this wonderful water ceremony happened,

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Jesus stands up and says, I am the One who gives living water. And then we have that moment also at the

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Feast of Booths where they're lighting these wonderful lamps and the light is shining in the desert in Jerusalem.

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It's shining outward. And when they finish lighting those things, Jesus says, I am the light of the world.

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He is all those things. And we saw that. And then that led us into chapter 8 which then gave us the conflict which we saw between Jesus and the

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Jews. And He said He is the I Am. He said He's better than the patriarchs, better than the prophets, because He's the

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One that they looked forward to. And then we saw that Jesus had left the temple because they were what?

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They were about to stone Him to death. At this moment, He's still in Jerusalem.

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And I don't think it's coincidence that He just departed from the spiritually blind and now

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He's going to go heal a blind man. This is a foretaste of the many, many, many, many who will be able to see

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Jesus as the Christ. The light of the world is shining. And He won't stop.

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He's got much more to do to get to the climax of the cross. And it's going to start with this miracle, okay?

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Let's take a look. Verse 1, As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.

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John tells us the Lord passed by. He saw a man blind from birth.

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The statistics are a bit different depending on the source, but research shows about four children, four children for every 10 ,000 are born blind.

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Four out of 10 ,000. Globally right now, the approximate number of children currently blind is 1 .4

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million. 1 .4 million children are blind today. And we can think, how can this be?

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You see, when Adam and Eve sinned and fell in the garden, they were cursed.

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And it says that all humanity were cursed along with them. Without the immortality God originally gave, sin spread to everything.

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Death entered the world. Little by little, sickness, disease, ailments arrived as well.

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You see, Adam lived until he was 930 years old. And with each successive generation, that life expectancy dwindled.

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I think right now in the United States, the current life expectancy average is 77 years old.

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We've gone from 900 down to 77. And so the medical and pharmaceutical industries are in the multi -billions of dollars.

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They're actually approaching trillions now. So sickness, wellness, medicine, they're approaching into the trillions.

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The Apostle Paul says that creation groans. Creation is sick of this, literally.

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It was made as good, and now needs to be made new. So presently, we have the

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Creator walking upon His creation, Jesus. And if we move too quickly, we might miss this.

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Because verse 2 may make it seem like the disciples brought the man born blind to Jesus' attention.

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However, in verse 1, if you look at it, it says Jesus saw the man.

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Jesus saw the man first. When we don't see, Jesus sees.

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Where some might skip over so -called lost causes, our merciful

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Lord does not. This is just like the beginning of John 5, when

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Jesus was walking in Jerusalem by the pools of Bethesda. He sees all these sick people, and the man who had been lame for 38 years,

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He saw him. And you know, I currently don't have all the answers for why you're going through what you're going through, or someone in your family is going through what they're going through.

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You see, there's sickness, there's health problems, there's disease. We will hopefully see some answers for that today.

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But I suppose what I want you to know is immediately, Jesus sees you.

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Jesus sees you when no one else does. He doesn't just pass by you, He sees you.

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He is the all -seeing and all -knowing Son of God with divine power, and so He can see you always.

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What you're going through, where you're at, and just as He had compassion on the lame man and the blind man,

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He has compassion for you, brothers and sisters. He has moved for you.

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When it feels like people around you don't care anymore, or they've become so used to you being in the state that you're in, or they've stopped seeking to encourage you or whatever,

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Christ sees you. He has sent you encouragement. He has given you access to Him.

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And so do those things. Look at His letters to you. Talk to Christ.

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Do these things. And while it may seem like doctors or whoever aren't working towards a cure or an effectual remedy, your

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Savior has already conquered it. He has already worked it out.

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He's conquered what brought this terrible effect on. When the fall came,

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He took all that curse, the curse that would bring sickness and death and ailments,

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He brought it all upon Himself. He took it to the cross. It was put to death at His resurrection.

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And at the second coming of Christ, we will no longer endure these things as we enter into heaven.

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The Scriptures say that death will be tossed into the lake of fire on that faithful day.

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And so you're not alone. You are not alone. You will experience relief, if not in this life, in the infinite years to come, you will.

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But remember, Jesus sees you. In the meantime, Jesus does see you. So go to verse 2.

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We have a theological question of sorts from the disciples to their rabbi, their master,

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Jesus. They also see the man born blind, and knowing

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Jesus was sent from God, He must have the answer to this. They consider what happened to this man a horrible fate.

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To be born blind and beg for alms is a tremendously difficult life.

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It's like they're saying, Jesus, what did this man do to receive this terrible judgment?

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Did he sin, or did his parents sin to receive this fate?

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They see it as punishment. They presuppose specific, individual, personal sin in this man.

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And honestly, I would be lying to you if I said they didn't have some sort of level of reason to believe that biblically.

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Hear me out, okay? God speaks of bringing curses upon those who turn after other gods and break the covenant.

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When Moses' sister Miriam revolted against God and Moses, God sent leprosy to her as a punishment.

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The Philistines received tumors from God when they stole the Ark of the Covenant from Israel. Some believe that was possibly the bubonic plague.

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Elijah's greedy servant Gehazi received leprosy. The leprosy that Naaman the

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Syrian had, whom he was healed by Elisha. And Gehazi was selfish and used that healing for personal gain to go up to Naaman and get money.

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And so that leprosy transferred from Naaman to Gehazi. You have moments where Paul says that some are sick for not taking the

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Lord's Supper in a righteous way. We've talked about those who are sexually immoral can gain diseases.

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That's rampant in our world. Drunkards and drug addicts can get diseases and die from their sin.

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We even saw when we went over the letter according to James, the brother of our Lord was concerned about the correlation of sin and sickness in his letter as well.

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The Bible even speaks of the barrenness of the womb sometimes being a judgment.

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Or even Jewish tradition was held that if a pregnant woman participated in pagan worship, her sin of false worship while she was pregnant would then be transferred to the baby in her womb.

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That's what they thought. That's not in the Bible, but that's what they believed. And so the disciples even ask about the parents.

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What did they do? Who sinned to make this man born blind?

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But in verse 3, we're going to see something completely significant. It says, Jesus answered, it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents.

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The man didn't sin, his parents didn't sin, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

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We know that all disease and sickness in a general sense is bound to sin.

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The fall of man. Jesus doesn't renounce that general understanding.

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Sickness is a result of the fall. He understands that. But He makes it clear that for this man, he did not personally, personally sin, nor did his parents personally sin to incur this blindness.

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That is to say, not all sickness and not all disease is a punishment.

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In fact, I am of the opinion from what I see from the Word of God that that is more of the exception rather than the norm.

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The norm is that most of our sickness... Someone's sniffling.

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They're like, oh goodness. Most of our sickness is providential from the sovereign hand of God due to the fact that this world has fallen.

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That's the majority in my opinion. Providential. Not because we've done anything.

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And so this reminds us even of Job from the Old Testament if you remember.

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Job did not sin to receive the calamity that was put upon him, nor the sickness that he received.

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He did nothing. In fact, Job was very much the opposite of sinful. It says that he was an upright man.

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He was one of the most righteous in all the land. And yet, this terrible thing happened to him and he got sick.

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The man born blind is going to experience an encounter with God in a similar way that Job did.

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Galatians 4 also shows that when Paul brought the Galatians, the Gospel, he says that he was very, very sick.

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But it doesn't say that he did something to incur that sickness. Neither was that the case for Epaphroditus who was on his deathbed, he was so sick.

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But it says nothing that he did anything to receive that.

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And so with all that said, God's sovereignty, God's power,

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God's ordaining, God's decree is all over sickness. He's not absent from that.

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But again, for the most part, the disciples' presupposition is largely not always the case.

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But they had reason to believe it. Jesus gives an answer to this question that this man has probably wondered all his life.

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The answer that his parents have also always wanted to know, what is the purpose in my son being born blind?

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God, what is the meaning of me being born blind? And Jesus says it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

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And I want to make that clear. Jesus is not establishing cause, but purpose here.

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These are two different categories. The causation of this ailment is not

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God, despite Him being over all things. But the cause is sin.

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The fallenness of sin. So this is not Jesus saying God gave this man a life of blindness just to show off.

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That's not what He's saying. But through this fallen providential reality,

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God is going to make something heavenly. He's going to redeem this. Purpose versus cause.

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God has a purpose in this. You're like, so you're telling me one of the main purposes that God allowed this man to be born blind is to show

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Himself through him? Yes. Absolutely yes. This man is like a blank canvas in which

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God is the artist who will make something beautiful and marvelous out of something that is plain and colorless.

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He takes the blackness of night, shines light through it, and you see color.

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But what are the works of God? Psalm 66 likens them to one of God's miracles that He's performed.

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It says, Come and see the works of God who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.

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He turned the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There, let us rejoice in Him.

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In Psalm 78, once again, the psalmist calls for the people to not forget the works of God.

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And it says, they forgot His deeds and His miracles that He had shown them. He wrought wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt and in the field of Zoan.

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He divided the sea and caused them to pass through. And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

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Then He led them with the cloud by day and all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them abundant drink like the ocean's depth.

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He brought forth streams also from the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers.

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So when Jesus says that phrase, works of God, and then you go to the

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Psalms and that phrase, works of God, are used again, of Yahweh, of the

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Lord, what is Jesus saying then? Jesus is saying that what's about to happen to this blind man is on the same level of God's glorious works of old.

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The miracles of the one true God that were shown to Israel are now manifest in Jesus Christ.

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He's on the same level. By the way there, in verse 3, that word displayed in the

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Greek is phanareo. This is an appearance, an appearance of a work of God in and through a man.

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And in fact, this word, the root of this word in the Greek is related to shine or shining.

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And I think that Jesus selected this word for a reason.

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Because He will mention that He works during the day, which is the time of the light, and then

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He calls Himself in verse 5 the light of the world again. That is to say, this is a powerful inference to Jesus' divine identity.

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A work of God will shine light through this man and it will be done in the light, the day of the

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Savior's arrival, and He is the light of the world. Jesus is the

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God who was meant to do what He's about to do. Everything, if you think about it, has come to a point for this man born blind.

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His whole life, as He's waited, has come to a point for this moment.

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He's about to leave darkness and enter light. Not only with His eyes, but with His soul, which we're going to see in the next two weeks.

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And now, you and me, and especially those of us who have suffered much wonder, well, why hasn't

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He healed me? Or why hasn't God done one of His works in me?

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Do not disregard what God has done already. Do not disregard the work of God in your life and throughout your life.

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Remember, the psalmist, he said, do not forget the works of God. We always forget, do you realize what

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He's done for you? Do you realize what He's done in you and for you? And look,

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I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not saying it's easy by any means. But I dare say, the removal of spiritual blindness is infinitely more magnificent than the removal of physical blindness.

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And I feel like I can say that with certainty from the

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Scriptures. Paul says you are His workmanship. You are

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God's workmanship. You are being shaped into a masterpiece to proclaim the glories of God. Philippians 2, verse 13 says, for it is

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God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. God is doing all that He wants with you.

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He knows what's best for you. What exactly you need, He'll give it.

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And in the timing, He'll give it. The works of God will shine through you, church.

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They have shined through you. They will continue to shine through you. And even though you and I aren't the blind man and you haven't received maybe the removal of your ailment today, this doesn't mean that this is for nothing.

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This doesn't mean that this is nothing. We tend to believe several lies regarding sickness, disease, and suffering that we endure.

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The first lie is this. Number one, we often believe what we have is a practice in futility.

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In other words, we believe that what we have is meaningless. This doesn't mean anything. And that is false.

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Nothing is vain or purposeless in God's sovereign plan. What did our catechism say?

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Declaring the end from the beginning, and I would say even everything in between.

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Just like the suffering of Joseph led to the salvation and start of a great nation, what they intended for evil,

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God intended for good. And what? We always go to it. Romans 8 .28

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And we know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love

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God and those who are called according to His purpose. And remember, it says, work together.

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God works together. What is the word that Jesus said? He said the same thing in the

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Greek. Ergon. Work. The works of God. God is working something out.

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And it's for good. Paul said to the Roman church, who were, besides the

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Jerusalem church, one of the most persecuted churches in the empire, Paul's writing to the

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Roman church, some of them listening to this letter aloud have just had someone they love die.

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Someone that they have is sick. And Paul can say all these things.

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That all things will work together for good by the God who ordained them.

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And the God who loves you. I get it though. You don't see fully why you are facing whatever you're facing now.

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But it's shaping you. It's working to make you more dependent on God. It's working to build your relationship with Him.

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It's humbling you in the best of ways. It's making you more like Christ.

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And so, you are to lean into it. Lean into it. You and I have something that makes it all possible to face.

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Because Christ faced it for us. And just like the blind man, what you endure will shine the light of God.

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You say, how can I make a difference for the kingdom of God? Stop letting whatever you're going through make you feel dark.

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Making others feel like there is only darkness in this world. Because there's not.

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Show them that after darkness there is light. There is real light in Christ. Number two.

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We often believe what we have cannot be redeemed. It will forever be with us.

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What you're going through, what I have, what you have, whatever. And again, there's some people here, and who may listen later, who have suffered with things unimaginable.

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Things that they've had for a long time. And we tend to think that they can't be redeemed.

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That they will forever be with us. But that's not true. Revelation chapter 21 verse 4 says,

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He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more.

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Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. No more pain. Isaiah says that the wolf will dwell with the lamb.

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The leopard will lie down with the young goat. And the calf and the young lion and the fatling will lie together.

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And the little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze together.

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Their young will lie down together. And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of a cobra.

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And the weaned child will put his hand into the viper's den. That is to say, when all this is consummated, when we're finally in heaven, all that is dangerous becomes safe.

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All that is violent becomes peaceful. Likewise, all that is sick becomes well.

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All that is sick becomes well. All those who suffer will now prosper in God's kingdom.

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And so believe God when He says those things. Don't believe lies. Number three.

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The third lie we tell ourselves when we have sickness or disease or ailments is we often believe that we're alone in this.

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You see, at a high time in the life of Elijah the prophet, he's at Mount Carmel, if you remember this, and the prophets of Baal are saying that their

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God will consume this offering and the Lord Yahweh, the one true God, won't. And so Elijah even pours water all over it into the basin, into the trench, into the pit, over the animal, over the sacrifice.

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Everything's wet. And God sends down fire and burns it and it says that there was not one drop of water left there.

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God showed up that day in a huge way. And then it says that the prophets of Baal with their false gods started cutting themselves, chanting to Baal, but nothing happened with theirs.

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God showed He was the one true God. And at this moment, at this highlight in Elijah's ministry, he walks away from that downcast.

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Elijah said in 1 Kings chapter 19, he says this, I am alone.

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I am alone. There's no one else who seeks

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You, Lord. There's no one else. God then instructed

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Elijah to go to the mountain and stand in His presence. The Lord then sent a mighty wind which broke the rocks into the pieces, but God wasn't in that.

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His voice wasn't there. Then God sent an earthquake and fire, but His voice was not in that either.

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After all that, the Lord spoke to Elijah in what? The still, small voice, or what is the gentle whisper.

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The point of God speaking in the still, small voice was to show Elijah that the work of God doesn't always need to be accompanied by these dramatic revelations or manifestations.

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The same is true for you. You're looking for a sign. You're looking for something magnificent.

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God's voice is going to be in the storm. God, will you put lightning down right there so I know that you're there.

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And God is just going to speak softly sometimes without any dramatic manifestations.

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You see, divine silence does not mean that there's divine inactivity.

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It doesn't feel like God is there. God is there. He is there.

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And then in addition to God being there, the Lord said this to Elijah who was all down.

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The Lord said, I have reserved for Myself 7 ,000 faithful ones who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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Elijah wasn't alone. He wasn't truly alone. God was there, and God reserved men who didn't fall for that falsehood.

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But sometimes we can believe that we're isolated. We are different.

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No one's going through what I'm going through. No one's faced what I've faced, we tell ourselves.

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That's not true. What is the saying? Misery loves company.

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I see it the other way. Misery wants to make you feel alone. Misery wants you to feel alone.

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But don't believe it. We read Psalm 145 today. Our deacon

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Dusty read it. It says, The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.

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He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He will also hear their cry and will save them.

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That's a promise. So now we come to the fourth lie that we tell ourselves when we have sickness or ailments.

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We can also believe that being brought low through sickness is a bad thing.

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Well, isn't it? According to Jesus, the

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Apostle Paul said that's not always the case. God keeping us humble is a good thing. If you remember from 2

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Corinthians 12, Paul saw amazing revelations in the heavenly realm, and to keep him from exalting himself, a thorn in the flesh was given to him, and the

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Lord decided that it would never be removed from him while he is still on the earth. And I am so glad that Paul never told us what the thorn in the flesh is, that he would have forever.

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We don't know if it was mental. We don't know if it was physical. People have guessed and speculated for a long time if it was spiritual.

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And I think he specifically left that out, and the

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Holy Spirit used him in such a way so that we could use that verse to apply to ourselves. I am grateful to God for that.

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And so, when Paul learns that this thorn in the flesh will never be removed from him, by the way, in the

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Greek, English doesn't do it justice. We think of a splinter when he says thorn.

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Thorn in the Greek, that word can be like a huge stake in his side, like a two -foot -long stake through his body.

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It's killing him. He can't stand it. And so, the English makes him think, oh, the poor guy had a splinter.

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He just needs to get Mom and get the needle and get the splinter out. No, this man was tormented with what he was going through, and it wouldn't be removed until he came to the

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Lord. And so then, in this amazing way, Christ then speaks in the

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Spirit to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, and Christ says this, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.

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And so then the Apostle Paul, learning and growing from this moment, says this.

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This is amazing. He says, Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

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Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake, for when

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I am weak, then I am strong. By the way, when he says,

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I am well content with weaknesses, weaknesses, again, I'm going to the

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Greek, because it highlights something we don't normally see. In the Greek, weaknesses, if you do a word study, 50 % of the time in the

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New Testament, that word is used for general weakness, but the other half of the time, it's referring to legitimate sickness, ailments, and diseases.

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Okay? And so, in the NASB, I wish they would have said diseases or sicknesses.

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That would have brought something more to it. Because he's not just saying like, Oh, I'm content with sometimes generally being weak.

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I take a nap, and I get some energy. What he's saying is, I'm well content, like he told the church at Galatia, where he was sick.

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He brought the Gospel to them, and he was so sick. And he says, I'm well content with sicknesses, with diseases, with difficulties, for Christ's sake, for when

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I'm weak, then I'm leaning on Christ, and then I'm strong, because of Christ in me.

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What others see as paralyzing can actually be used in ways the strongest and healthiest person has never known.

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You see, Christ can turn the most sick person in the world into the most powerfully active for the

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Gospel sort of person. All in all, God is going to showcase

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His works through you and I. And so we've got to stop blocking

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His light and let it shine out of us, no matter what we're going through.

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Go to verse 4. He says, We must work the works of Him who sent

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Me, as long as it is day, night is coming when no one can work.

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Jesus speaks to one main aspect of His mission. He must work the works of Him who sent

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Him as long as it is day. The we includes the disciples in a derivative fashion.

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They only get to participate because Christ works the works of God and allows them to.

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And He says night is coming when no one can work. You see, Israel is what's called an agrarian society.

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Agrarian. And what that means is they grow crops for a living.

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Most of them do. They're an agrarian society. And so what? They grow wheat, barley.

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They have vineyards of figs, grapes, and olives for olive oil. And so they're growers.

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And what would happen is when night comes, there's no putting on the spotlights in the field.

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When night comes, there's no lighting a large menorah and you can see the whole field and work.

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When night comes, you're done. Can't work anymore. One must stop and wait for morning.

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And so while they can work, and by extension, even all of us, while we can still work because it's day, we must work the works of God.

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We are to be instruments for the Lord. Paul tells that to Timothy in 2

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Timothy 2 .21. Therefore, this person will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the

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Master, prepared for every good work. When Christ rescues us and He aids us in abandoning our sin, we will be useful to the

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Master. He will use you. Vessels of honor prepared for every good work that the

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Lord desires for us to participate in. Isn't that the amazing thing right here? It says that God's going to save you,

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He's going to remove all dishonor from you, and then you'll get to work. It's not that you have to work and then

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He'll make you honorable. That's huge. You don't have to be perfect and do really, really good, and then you'll be saved.

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It says you'll be saved, and then you'll get to participate. Whatever He's called you to do, keep doing it.

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He also tells the Ephesians to make the most of their time, for the days are evil. Walk in the light as children of light.

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He says to expose the darkness, and so Jesus will continue to labor.

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And they haven't taken Him to the cross yet. He will do every single work that He is predestined to do.

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And He must do this one. He must heal. He must heal this man that's on the path. Night is coming.

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Night is coming. Night is coming is probably alluding to the dark night of His capture and death.

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The dark is coming. He'll be taken in the Garden of Gethsemane. He'll be robbed of His freedom.

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And then it will lead to His death at Golgotha on that hill. And so when the so -called people of God killed the

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Son of God, is this darkness, but they remained in their blindness. They remained in darkness.

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In John 12, Jesus alludes to darkness coming once He leaves them. You hear that? In John 12,

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Jesus alludes to what this night is, what this darkness is. It says when He dies and when

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He resurrects and when He leaves. And you even think about it on that night, when

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He was taken away from them, they stopped working. What did they do? They scattered. They scattered.

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But when the Spirit comes, they'll continue the work. You see, you remember that?

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They even went back to fishing some of them. They were scattered. They stopped working the works of God.

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They even went back to their vocations. They thought it was over. Jesus is dead. He's in the grave. It's over.

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But it's not. Night doesn't last forever. That's why He says night. It's not perpetually night.

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The light comes after the darkness. The morning dawns the day after the darkest night that creation has ever known.

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There may be more to this night statement that we don't fully understand, but what we do know is that while we can work the works of God, we are to work.

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We are not to give up. Don't give in. Don't wave a white flag while the wicked are putting satanic flags down.

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They aren't stopping their advancements. Does it look like it? Does it look like the world is stopping their efforts to subdue

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Christ and His rule and reign and the knowledge of Him? It doesn't look like they're stopping, and so we shouldn't stop either.

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Keep giving the Gospel. Keep ministering to others. Keep even having babies and raising them in the reverence and admonition of our

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Lord. Keep standing for what is right in the world while you still have breath.

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You keep going. You keep working the works of God. Because He doesn't say, wait for the night.

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What does He say? He says, keep working until night comes. Don't wait for the night.

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Keep working until night comes. Then Jesus says in verse 5, while I am in the world,

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I am the light of the world. If you remember from the light of the world passage, we talked about that Jesus is the pillar of fire that led them through the darkness of this world.

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While He is here on earth, while He was there, He was shining. And He continues to shine even though He's not physically present here.

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Christ is the lighthouse that is this golden beacon in this terrible dark storm with raging chaotic waters.

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Christ is the lighthouse that is shining to show us the way. He is the one who keeps predators at bay.

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He is the one we look to for rescue. Now, I don't take a lot of stock in this, but one thing

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I even consider is almost every near -death experience, people come back from that and say,

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I saw a light and I was walking towards it. They see this light. They don't see darkness.

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That's interesting. They see light. Now, I don't think that means that everyone's about to be saved, but they're about to be judged in some capacity according to Hebrews 9.

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It says, for it is appointed for man to die, then comes the judgment. And where that place is is where the light dwells.

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So they're approaching the place of light. I don't know. This man born blind has walked and groped in darkness all his life.

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He is a metaphor for every single other person who has ever existed. Blindness, darkness, has overcome every single person and they needed the light of the world.

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They need Christ. Even those words, light and world, how many times, of course depending on context, cosmos or world is used so differently, but especially in Paul's letters and even in parts of the beginning of John, the world is used in such a way as the evil of this system and somehow

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Jesus is the light of the world. It almost seems like an oxymoron.

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It almost seems like opposites. But He came to remove the scales from the eyes of sinners and show them that He is the light that they need for salvation.

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Goodness has come among wickedness. Purity has entered into impurity to make a people pure once again.

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God has come down to the godless to make them godly. The only one who can see properly, that is

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Christ, the only one who can see properly has come to cure those who are blind and cause them to see.

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This is His mission. So Jesus acts now.

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He has come to work the works of God. Look at verse 6. When Jesus had said this,

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He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and He applied the clay to His eyes.

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There was no COVID back then, right? Now what

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Jesus is doing is more monumental than you could ever imagine. Let me tell you. In Leviticus, God lays out the requirement of being a priest of Aaron.

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God says, Moses, tell this to Aaron. No man of your offspring throughout all generations who has a defect shall ever approach to offer the food for his

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God. For no one who has a defect shall approach God, a blind man, a lame man, or he who has disfigured face or any man with a deformed limb.

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You see, a blind man could not approach God or go into His presence, but in the coming of God the

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Son, He will approach the blind man. He'll take the initiative. When no one could approach

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Him, when this blind man couldn't see God or even come into His presence, God will go to him.

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God will go to him. He'll redeem this. If you can't come to Me, He says,

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I'll come to you. And that's what Jesus is doing here. He spits on the ground.

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He mixes a little clay in His hand and He applies the clay to the man's eyes.

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And then He tells him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Now in the other Gospels, it records that Jesus healed many blind people.

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In several cases, blind people called out. They heard the hustle and bustle. Who's that?

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Who's walking in? Who's coming into town? Oh, that's Jesus of Nazareth, the miracle worker.

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And then the blind men would go, they wouldn't even know where He is. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us.

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Heal us. Heal us of our blindness. And Jesus would just say, it's done.

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He applied no mud. He applied no clay. He would just declare it. There's two other times where Jesus uses

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His saliva for a healing. In Mark 7 and Mark 8. You can check those out another time.

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Mark 7 and Mark 8, Jesus uses His saliva there. So the question is, why does

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Jesus do the healing this way? I didn't get this. One scholar theorizes, for the

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Jews, they believe that all excrement, all saliva, all urine, and all blood were things that made someone unclean.

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That is profane. And so by Jesus using His own saliva, He is making a statement that there is nothing unclean in Him.

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There is nothing unclean about Jesus so that even His saliva is used to heal someone.

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The Son of God reverses things in wonderful ways. You even think about Matthew 8.

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It says that Jesus touched a leper. What would happen? I know you already know it. What would happen if you were not a leper and you touched a leper?

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You're unclean. It doesn't mean you would get immediate leprosy. You could if you dwelt with them.

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But you would become unclean. And what do the Scriptures say in Matthew 8? It says that Jesus touched the leper and He doesn't become unclean.

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That man becomes clean. It's the opposite. You can't make

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Jesus unclean. And so why though this instance does

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Jesus make this clay besides that? Immediately what came to me, what my thoughts went to was that Jesus speaks of the works of God.

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He talks about the light. So where is the place in the

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Bible where you see the biggest work of God and you see the biggest act of light? Genesis 1.

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Genesis 1. Adam was made from the dust. Jesus used the dust in this moment.

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And so we ought to be in the mindset of creation. Jesus is showing then that He is the Creator and He has all power to manipulate creation for His purposes.

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He has all power to do it. He has all the rights to His creation. And so He takes the clay,

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He takes His spit, and He makes a clay pack to put on His eyes. And beyond this,

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I think one of the most important sections of Scripture regarding clay is in Isaiah. What does it say about clay in Isaiah?

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It says that the Lord Yahweh calls Himself the Maker and the Potter. The Potter.

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He forms the clay. He forms us and He does what He pleases. Isaiah 64 verse 8 says,

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But now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay. You are our Potter.

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And all of us are the work of Your hand. You see that? The work of Your hand.

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What did Jesus say? The works of God. He made clay with His hands.

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He applied the clay with His own hands to the man's eyes. Who can do this?

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Who can make clay heal a creature? Only the Creator. And so what does this make

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Jesus? It makes Him the Sovereign Lord. He is divine.

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Verse 7, He said to the man, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated, scent.

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So he went away and washed and came back saying, Now, the question is, why the pool of Siloam?

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Why not just the clay? Well, he had clay on his eyes. He had to actually wash it off. It was starting to dry real quick.

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No, that's not just the only reason. John tells us, and I think this is on purpose,

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John tells us Siloam is translated scent. He specifically puts that in there.

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So what is John trying to allude to? I think he's trying to allude to what Jesus did.

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With authority, Jesus sent the man there. And Jesus has said numerous times in this

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Gospel already that He sent from His Father. You see, there's an allusion to He sent from His Father and then

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He commands people to be scent. And He sent the man there.

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It could have been a pool for ritualistic cleansing. And so what we see is

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Jesus is the one who cleans people from their sin. There's people who went to the pool of Siloam day after day after day and their ailment and their blindness never went away.

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But when Jesus sends you there, something happens. Something happens. Now Christ purifies.

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The pool itself was the lowest point of the city of David, by the way. The pool of Siloam was the lowest part of the city of David, lowest part of Jerusalem.

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And its water source came from the Gihon Spring in the Valley of Kidron. And this is what's unique about this water is that in 700

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B .C., in anticipation of the Syrian invasion on Jerusalem, King Hezekiah in great wisdom built a huge tunnel underground.

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This is amazing. This is recorded history. It says that this is such a huge project.

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He built this tunnel to direct the water into the city limits so that the Assyrian army couldn't block off their water supply while they laid siege.

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And guess what? It wasn't just a river that was above ground. It was an underground aqueduct tunnel that went under the city of Jerusalem so that they could have water during this time of warfare.

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Just so intelligent. That water could not be cut off by the enemy.

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And it makes me think, the enemy could not stop this cleansing once Jesus declared it.

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He could not stop it from happening. And when the man did what

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Jesus instructed, he came back seeing. The point is, the power of healing is not focused on the man's obedience.

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You see that? The power of healing isn't focused on the man's obedience. It's focused on the

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One who healed him. It's focused on Jesus. He is the sole focus of this healing.

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Truly, we read accounts like this and move on. But this would have been unbelievable if there weren't many people who knew this man prior.

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Perfectly restored eyesight. Perfectly restored. There wasn't any little bit of time where he had to do some physical therapy and move the eyeballs around.

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There wasn't any time where he got up from the water and it was really bright.

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It was perfect eyesight. In the prophecy of the joyous future of Zion, Isaiah 35 says this,

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Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the deaf will have their ears unstopped.

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Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. The waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the

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Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water will arise.

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What's amazing is, Jesus actually quotes that exact prophecy of coming

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Zion, and He says He's the one fulfilling it. When John the Baptist was inquiring about Jesus early in Jesus' ministry,

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Jesus says, The lame walk. The deaf hear. The blind see.

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He speaks of this, and He is the water that has come. He is the springs of water welling up.

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It's now and it's future. That's what's amazing. It's here and now and it's future.

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He is the God who has promised to do this, and now He has. But let's go to our final verses for the evening church.

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Go to verses 8 -12. They read this, Therefore the neighbors and those who previously saw

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Him as a beggar were saying, Is this not the one who used to sit and beg? Others were saying,

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This is He. Still others were saying, No, but He is like Him. He kept saying,

01:00:10

I am the one. So they were saying to Him, How then were your eyes opened? He answered,

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The one who is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said, Go to Siloam and wash.

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So I went away and washed and I received sight. They said to Him, Where is

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He? And the blind... Well, I shouldn't say that. Sorry, brother in heaven.

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The man who was once blind said, I do not know. This man was probably running around.

01:00:42

He was probably looking at things he's only imagined his whole life. Oh, that's what that looks like. Oh my goodness, that's what that looks like.

01:00:49

Right? He's having these amazing revelations. Seeing things for the first time.

01:00:55

He's running up to people whom he only knew by their voice. It's incredible.

01:01:01

And they don't say, Is this the one who used to be blind?

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They say, Isn't this the one who used to be a beggar? Isn't this the one who could only sit there and plead for help?

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Beg for help. You see, a congenitally blind man could in no way support himself.

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No way whatsoever. However, he's not sitting and begging anymore.

01:01:32

And that's what makes them marvel. The people are stunned. It was such a radical change that even some were skeptical.

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Are you sure this is him? Because he was so destitute. He was so pathetic.

01:01:48

He sat there day after day after day. He was like a fixture in the same place.

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He said, How can this be him? And he says, Everyone, it's really me.

01:02:03

I am the one you're speaking of. How funny would that be? I was the blind guy. And he's just full of so much joy.

01:02:12

And so naturally, his neighbors are curious as to what happened to him. And as someone who is blind,

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I'm sure that he actually had pretty good hearing. In fact, scientists have determined that sometimes the hearing sense becomes heightened for blind people.

01:02:31

And so he's really good with details that he can hear. He is completely unlike the lame man in John 5, where he's like,

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I don't know who that guy was, and I really appreciate being able to walk now.

01:02:48

And then that guy even kind of blames Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. This man in John 9 is so unlike that man, the lame man from John 5.

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He's grateful. He's full of joy. And he knows every detail. He says it was

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Jesus. And this is what he did. This is where he told me to go. He knew the details.

01:03:14

And what he didn't see was where Jesus went as He walked to the pool of Siloam.

01:03:21

See, Jesus didn't need to make sure that His miracle worked out. Oh, okay, good. He can see. Jesus knew.

01:03:27

Jesus performed it. He knew He would see. And so Jesus walks away. And isn't that just like our

01:03:34

Savior? When all the neighbors and all the people are like, whoa, this blind man can see!

01:03:39

Praise God! He could have walked up and received all this worship. In fact, He had all the right to receive all that worship, except Jesus walks away and humbly takes none of that.

01:03:55

That's amazing. You see, I know in my sinfulness, I'd be like, yeah, yeah,

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I do what I can. But Jesus walks away. He's so humble. He often tells those whom

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He heals, what does He say in the Gospel? He says, don't tell anyone, but He knows they're going to start spreading the word about Him.

01:04:18

But I don't think that's some sort of feigned humility, like don't tell anyone.

01:04:25

He just knows providentially that they will. All the glory goes to the

01:04:31

Father, then He receives all this glory for it. He doesn't soak in any of the praise or credit, even though He could.

01:04:41

So let's wrap this up, church. I really pray this passage has brought you some comfort with what you're going through.

01:04:51

I think we've gotten a glimpse into the mind and kindness of God. What you endure, what you will endure, is never futile.

01:05:01

It's never meaningless. It means something. And God will continue to manifest that for your good and His glory.

01:05:08

We don't see it fully right now, but you will.

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You will. All this pain is working towards the greater purpose.

01:05:21

And the good news is, whether He heals now or later, He is still a healing

01:05:27

God. He is a God of love and compassion. Jesus spoke of both the ministries of Peter and Paul, and what they would have to go through and suffer through for His namesake.

01:05:41

But we know the glorious result to all of that. And that's the same for us.

01:05:47

And it's because of Christ. As the old hymn says, because He lives,

01:05:54

I can face tomorrow. Now, you're not supposed to leave this sort of message, by the way, and try to decipher some sort of spiritual cause to whatever sickness you have.

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That's not what I mean for you to do. Did I sin or did I not sin? Because the solution is always the same.

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Find refuge in Jesus. And of course, if you're sinning greatly today, whether you're sick or not, repent.

01:06:26

That's it. If you're sitting here today, and even though you know some people who have been suffering with certain ailments, maybe you're sitting here and you're kind of unsure how a message like this applies to you.

01:06:43

So I spoke at the very beginning a lot towards those who do have sickness and who are enduring hard things.

01:06:53

But now here's for the people who are alongside those people, okay? Here's a few things for you.

01:06:59

Number one, remember, you will face these things eventually. You will.

01:07:07

But don't be afraid. You will face them even as you age. You know,

01:07:13

I remember I had friends growing up. I never went to a funeral until just a few years ago.

01:07:22

I never saw that growing up. I never saw death. You're going to see things eventually, especially as you age.

01:07:30

Either you will go through something or those close around you. Number two, you can be used to minister to those who go through these sort of trials.

01:07:42

You see, right now in my devotion, I'm reading through the book of Job, and Job's three friends are such rascals.

01:07:49

They assume that he's done the worst. They're like, just repent from your sin, and God will forgive you for what you did to have this calamity and sickness to come upon you.

01:08:02

And they don't even know the story. He's done nothing to receive it. Don't be like Job's friends and assume that someone is in a particular position because you just don't know.

01:08:14

The only thing that you can assume is what was taught to you today, that whatever they're going through will be used to display the works of God.

01:08:23

That's for sure. Also, brothers and sisters,

01:08:30

I do this so often, I have to really think about this. Don't always try to be a doctor to someone.

01:08:41

I would say be slower to give unsolicited advice. We have so much information today.

01:08:47

We're all little doctors from Little House on the Prairie or something. We know so many home remedies and all these things.

01:08:54

I would be slow to do that. Maybe if someone's going through something and you know a family member or you have personally gone through what they're going through, maybe you can just say something like, look,

01:09:07

I'm so sorry for what you're facing. I have a little bit of knowledge of what you're going through.

01:09:14

If you'd ever like to talk sometime, I'm willing to share my experience with you. Maybe say something like that.

01:09:20

See, a lot of people just simply need to have someone listen to them.

01:09:26

Be a good listener. Pray with people often. Pray some and pray some more.

01:09:34

You know, I'm reminded of two things with that. My wife, I don't mean to put a spotlight on you, but she has type 1 diabetes.

01:09:42

Her pancreas hasn't worked since she was four. And we get so many people sending little messages saying like,

01:09:47

I've heard cinnamon will cure you. It's like she has that stuff in her oatmeal daily.

01:09:56

Okay, that's not just it. I'm reminded even of a sermon of Matt Chandler. Do you remember

01:10:01

Matt Chandler had a brain tumor and he had to have it removed, extensive surgery, and he would get people writing to him or coming to him and be like, you don't need the surgery, brother.

01:10:14

You need organic blueberries. Eat a pint of blueberries a day and that tumor will go away. It's like, that's what

01:10:20

I'm talking about. Look, don't leave here and think you can't give advice to people in this room. It's just be sensitive to these things.

01:10:28

Pray with them. Listen to them. Those are important. Also, I want to remind you that Jesus saw someone who most people did not see.

01:10:41

They would go past him every day of their lives. And so the way that applies to us is that in this social media age, in this group chat sort of age, we often only check in or pray for those who are vocal about their situation.

01:11:02

The people who need prayer requests. And keep doing it. Keep saying the prayer you need.

01:11:08

Prayer works. Keep giving it. I'm saying don't stop that. But what

01:11:13

I'm saying is often we only see those prayers and those who advocate for their own trials.

01:11:21

What about the people in your church or in your life who are more reserved? What about the people who are on social media platforms?

01:11:30

Jesus took the initiative. He made the first step. Who can you see today at Apologia who doesn't normally go seen?

01:11:43

Who needs to be seen here? Who needs to be seen in your life who hasn't been seen in a while?

01:11:50

Who goes unnoticed here? Just reach out. It doesn't matter if they're sick or not.

01:11:57

Break out of that social media and chat ghetto and talk to people who need encouragement.

01:12:05

Okay? Leave the main channels of communication. Check in with everyone more intimately.

01:12:11

Check with that person who you know you haven't heard from in a while. So no matter who you are, what side of the topic you are on today, look to Christ's example.

01:12:26

Now as redeemed people who work the works of God, work whatever

01:12:31

He has for you. Work whatever He has for you. It can be big or small.

01:12:39

He has many works for you. You're not just working when you're doing ministry.

01:12:45

You're not just working the works of God when you're sharing the Gospel. You're doing the works of God when you're faithful with what's in front of you today, tomorrow.

01:12:56

The mom at home, the mom in the workplace, the kids at school, the kids in homeschool, the dad at work, whatever it is.

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I find it amazing that Christ called Himself the light of the world, but then in turn, in the

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Sermon on the Mount, what does Jesus say to those who believe in Him? He calls

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Himself the light of the world, and then He looks to those who believe in Him, and He says, you are the light of the world.

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You are a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. And so, He is the capital

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L light, and we get to be little l, lowercase l, lights in this world.

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So let's continue to do what our Lord started. By His grace, through His Spirit, for His glory, and we shall see

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His goodness prevail upon this earth. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Lord, please bless the message that went out today, for Your glory, for Your namesake, but God, also for Your people.

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God, help us to view our suffering and our illnesses in light of what has been shown here in John chapter 9.

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That we all have the capacity with whatever we're suffering with, to shine the light of Christ.

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To have the works of God displayed through us. So God, help us to do that.

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Lord, help us to not be wrought with so much anxiety about this procedure, this surgery, this thing that's coming our way.

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Lord, help us to have our eyes fixed on You. The One who can make a display out of what we face.

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Lord, help our faith in You to be so strong that we're not rocked by these things. Increase our little faith,

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God, so that when we do face these things, we'll be ready. And we're thankful that You're there with us and You see us.