(Sabbath Miracles) 04 - Withered Hand Blind — Ed Miller

Thank you. Good evening. How fast, how fast these weekends go. What a blessing in my life. I'd ask you to open your Bibles, please, to Luke Chapter 6, if you would. As we come to the study of God's Word, there's a principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable.

Reliance on the Holy Spirit for Understanding Scripture

And that principle is total reliance upon God the Holy Spirit. That principle is helpless dependence. God alone can put the light on the Lord Jesus and minister Christ to our hearts. I want to share, in terms of that indispensable principle, from one of the miracles we're going to look at tonight, we're going to look at two miracles this evening, two Sabbath miracles.

We're going to look at the healing of the lizard hand and the healing of the man born blind. And before we begin looking at all into the Word, in terms of this indispensable principle, my heart was greatly exercised as I considered the man that was born blind.

And it was in terms of something that Rick was sharing with us as well. And it had to do with anointing clay. He took the clay and he spit in it, making a clay, a mud, out of that. And I thought, you know, I come up here, I don't know another person on the earth more privileged than I am when I have the opportunity to stand before hungry saints and proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ.

And I thought that if the Lord could use mud and spit as his instrument to anoint eyes, there's not a lot of room for pride if God's going to use the little mud and spit. And as Rick was sharing the other day, remember about the splashing?

Who can forget that wonderful vision God gave to him on that? I thought, Lord, I want to be used to anoint somebody's eyes. But before that blind man got to see Christ, that instrument was washed away.

And I want to be there. I want to be used by the Lord to anoint your eyes. But then I also want to be washed away so that you can really see Jesus. Praise God for his instruments, but they're only mud and spit.

They're just instruments. So I'm going to pray. Pray with me that the Lord will use me as he anoints your eyes. And then by his grace, he'll wash me away so that you can really see, see him. Let's bow.

Father, we thank you for your precious word. We thank you for the Holy Spirit and the way you have given us your life, your spirit, the mind of Christ. And we would ask as we meditate on these precious things that our hearts would be inclined toward the Lord Jesus.

We pray that you would certainly anoint our eyes that we might see. Show us wondrous things out of your word. We thank you again that as we come, we come waiting for you to be the teacher and waiting for you to minister unto us.

And we thank you in advance that you've already been doing that, that you're doing it now. And even as our time draws to a close, we're going to do it in an increasing time of blessing because Jesus deserves it and it's in his name that we pray.

Amen. Amen. I think I've mentioned on other occasions that when I teach up in Rhode Island, it's a little different because there's a week in between sessions. And so review is a big thing for me. We don't need that much review because we've been here and so on.

But let me just say it again before your hearts to get into the flow and then God gracing us, we'll begin to look into the scriptures. We're looking, as you know, at these seven wonderful miracles that God has clustered together.

This isn't man's idea. God has put seven, and I think representative, seven wonderful miracles together. And they're all wrapped around that thing we call Sabbath, the Sabbath day. God had ordained, he instituted, he designed, he created one of the most glorious pictures and he called it the Sabbath.

And as soon as man was created, he gave him the Sabbath because the Sabbath was his minister to serve man, not to lord it over man. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. And so this marvelous picture that he had to illustrate union with God, that beautiful picture got in the hands of men.

And that thing became encrusted with many traditional accretions and it was like a boat with barnacles all over it. And it broke his heart. In the hands of man, that Sabbath left people and these are the seven miracles, filled with unclean spirits, burning with fever, crippled, wizard, blind, humped over, and their flesh all bloated out.

Jesus said, I want to set my people free. The spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim liberty to the captives, to deliver all of those people. In the hands of men, the Sabbath produced that. And Jesus said, one by one, these are the Sabbath day miracles.

He said, I'm going to set them free from this, and from this, and from this. Every miracle sheds light on what the Sabbath was supposed to picture, original intention. The Christian life, every miracle takes us into what it means to walk in union, what it means to know the Lord, to fellowship, to delight in Him.

Everything the Sabbath was supposed to mean. What it means to walk with Jesus in the green fields, in the presence of our enemies, while He provides all of our needs. So far we've looked at three miracles.

The Sabbath Restored: Spirit-Filled Service and Liberty

If God gets His Sabbath back, and He's taking it, if God gets His Sabbath back, what will it look like? Well, what will it look like? Everybody will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh, that's some Sabbath.

If He gets His Sabbath back, what will it look like? Everybody will be serving the Lord in delight, spontaneously, supernaturally, as they walk hand in hand with Jesus. What a Sabbath. If He gets His Sabbath back, what will it look like?

It'll look like liberty and freedom. And there'll be pallets railing all over the place like flags. He set me free. He set me free, even from the condemnation of my own stupidity and my own sin. That brings us this evening, then, to the fourth and fifth miracles, the healing of a man with a livid hand, and the healing of a blind man.

Obviously, these are large scriptures. I know you've meditated. I know you've studied. Many of you studied with me, and it's been glorious. And so you know there must be more left out than we say, as it's not time.

So if I leave out one of your favorite things, I'm sorry. If I plagiarize, well, I do that all the time. And that's... So I'm just going to reach into these texts and take the heart. We'll look at the main thing and then move on.

The Withered Hand and Jesus’ Authority to Do Good on the Sabbath

Luke chapter 6, please. Beginning at verse 6, it came about on another Sabbath that he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And there was a man there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely to see if he healed on the Sabbath in order that they might find reason to accuse him.

But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the withered hand, Rise and come forward. And he rose and came forward. And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or destroy it?

And after looking around it, he came along and said to him, Stretch out your hand. And he did so. And his hand was restored. And they themselves were filled with rage and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

In the Matthew account of the same story, he also gives the illustration of the value of man over against a sheep not created in the image of God. Matthew tells us also how violent their response was.

Matthew 12, 14. The Pharisees went out, counseled together against him how they might destroy him. The only thing Mark adds that we don't get from Matthew and Luke is how angry Jesus got. This is the first time in those miracles we read this.

Mark 3, 5. And after looking around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of heart, he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out. Pretty much we'll stay with the Luke account because Luke tells us six things that Matthew and Mark don't tell us.

Luke tells us this took place on the Sabbath day. Luke tells us that this took place in the synagogue. Luke, because he's the doctor, he tells us the withered arm, the withered hand was the right hand.

Luke informs us that the Pharisees and the scribes were also present on this occasion. Luke tells us that Jesus knew as the detail that the man was called publicly to come forward and stand in front of everyone.

And so Luke pretty much gives us the whole story and we'll stay with Luke. Keep those fans facing this direction. To appreciate the miracle of the healing of the withered hand and the message of God's heart, it wouldn't hurt to look in your mind's eye of what took place.

Now we know according to Luke that it was his right hand that was withered. Let me do a little donkey work here to give you some background and maybe that will help you to see how this thing took place.

Scholars tell us, I don't know the original languages but I thank the Lord for the reference books. They know and they tell me. And scholars tell us that this man rules out the possibility that it was congenital.

Whatever his problem was he wasn't born with it. It's the word used to describe an injury of some kind. So evidently this man hurt his hand. Either he cut his hand or had it severely smashed. We don't know what happened unless you read Jerome's commentary.

He tells us this story about a man who was a stonemason. And he quotes the early sources. He thinks it's the same fellow. And while he was doing what stonemasons do a large stone fell over and crushed his hand.

Well we don't know if that's the case or not. But we know it was something like that. And his right hand was withered. Withered is a good word. I think shriveled would be a good word to use. It's cut off.

It's unusable. I don't know what it would look like but it's not a normal hand. It's small. It's withered. You can't use it. It's paralyzed. And so get that picture in your mind. Paul with dropsy was a setup by the Pharisee.

In other words he was a plant. They put him there on purpose in order to trip up Jesus. Luke 6, 7 describes when the Pharisees were watching him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath day in order that they might condemn him.

You say well these Pharisees they don't want healing on the Sabbath day. The opposite is true. They wanted him to heal so they could condemn him. They set it up. They planned for that in order that they might accuse the Lord Jesus.

Picture the scene. The Lord Jesus is going to do. He only did this one other time and once again that's tomorrow with the woman that was humped over. Luke 6, 8 describes and come forward. Well now I don't know how many were sitting in the synagogue that day and I don't know if he was in the front row.

I think he was in a place conspicuous to where Jesus was sitting because they wanted him to see him. And Jesus came up in the front and he pointed him out and he said come forward. Well I can't read into this guy's mind.

I've known several people who've had withered hands and they were incurable in their desire to hide it. They helped constantly cover up their withered hand. This man rises up from his chair and he begins to go to the front.

Jesus is not going to let him hide it. He's got a withered hand and pretty soon everybody's going to know that he had a withered hand. And the Bible says as he was coming forward picture it the Lord Jesus it says his eyes were flashing at the Pharisees in anger.

This man's coming forward. He must be embarrassed. What in the world does he want me for? And he's coming up and Jesus is looking around angry grieved for their hardness of heart. And this man comes forward and stands in front of the Lord Jesus evidently looking into his face.

That's what I would do if I had a withered hand and he called me forward. I would come up and say you know what do you want? And then Jesus said out loud stretch out your hand. Now let me say it as it really is.

Stretch out your withered hand. That's the point of that. Now if you look at that scene with these eyes and I speak as a fool nothing could be more cruel than what our Lord Jesus did that day. To point out that man with a withered hand to publicly make him come up in front of everybody to make him stand there with a withered hand and to give him an impossible command.

Stretch forth your withered hand. If that man even for a lonely moment resorted to human wisdom it would have been all over. Imagine if that man looked at anatomy and he said looked at his hand my arm is cut or shriveled or smashed or whatever it's dead.

Lord you can't really be serious about this command. You're telling me to do something that is not possible to do. It's contrary to reason. It's contrary to logic. It's foolishness. And that brothers and sisters in Christ if I'm understanding this record is the very point it's the very point of this Sabbath miracle.

As the first miracle pictured the fullness of the Holy Spirit Sabbath surrender surrendering to the Lord as the second miracle illustrated Sabbath service rejoicing delighting to minister unto the Lord as the third miracle illustrated Sabbath liberty.

I'm suggesting we have in this miracle Sabbath obedience. Sabbath obedience he wants his Sabbath back and this is the only kind of obedience that will work. What is Sabbath obedience? Let me describe it in terms of the story it's standing before the Lord Jesus with a withered hand and looking helplessly into his face and hearing him give a command and then by the mighty power of God obeying that command that's Sabbath obedience.

God enables us to obey. Someone might have this argument God wouldn't give me a command that I couldn't obey that wouldn't be fair. He wouldn't expect me to do something that it's not possible to do and brothers and sisters in Christ this is not the first time I've told you this and it's not the first time you've heard it from many others.

Every command in the word of God is impossible for you to obey on your own. Every command in the word of God is impossible for me to obey. Someone said well that's not fair it's not my duty to obey. Oh indeed it is your duty.

It's mine. It's my obligation to obey God. It's my duty to obey God. It's my responsibility to obey God. Though it's my duty it's not my power. Though it's your duty it's not your power. That doesn't change the fact that you're responsible.

You're required to obey God. You don't have the power to do it and I don't have the power to do it. Now I want you to look down please. I don't think it's an accident that Luke begins, introduces the sermon on the plane with the story of the man with the wooden hand.

I say the sermon on the plane. Look at chapter 6, 17. He descended with them and stood on a level place. And there was a great multitude of his disciples. A great throng of people from all Judea. Teachers in the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him to be healed of their diseases.

Those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. When you read this you're going to say, my that looks like the sermon on the mountain. No, it's the sermon on the plane. It's different. Different time, different location.

And the one thing I like about it is Jesus preached using the same notes twice. He preached the same sermon. He changed some illustrations. He changed a few points. But he brought the same file. He brought the same notebook.

Anyway, the sermon on the plane is filled with impossible commands. Listen to chapter 6 verse 27. I say to you who hear it, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you.

Pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. Whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. Give to everyone who asks of you. And whoever takes away what's yours, do not demand it back.

35. Love your enemies. Do good. Lend expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great. You'll be sons of the Most High. He himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful as your Father is merciful.

Every one of those. Love your enemies. Stretch forth your withered hand. Turn the other cheek. Stretch forth your withered hand. Do good to those who hate you. Stretch forth your withered hand. Brothers and sisters in Christ, he wants his Sabbath back and we better come to the place and not believe the lies of the Pharisees that we can obey God.

We cannot obey God. It's not in us. And it's awfully frustrating. I've done it for years to try to live the Christian life. I try to obey God. He says, love your wives as Christ loved the church and I try to love her and then it doesn't work out and then there's problems and then I confess and I get right with God and I come back and I try again and I fall on my face and I get up again and I confess and I get right with God and I try again and I fall on my face.

That is not Sabbath obedience. Sabbath obedience. He always, before he gives a command, he always says, come forward. Because you can't obey until you're standing in front of Jesus and looking in his face.

And he brings you up there and he confronts you with your withered hand. That's why I love Barry when he was sharing with us the other night. Bless the Lord, brother, because what God taught them in Estonia, and what he confessed to us, he went there and the first thing God showed him was his withered hand.

And then he looked into the face of the Lord, but he had a vision and a command and God commanded him, stretch it forward, and he did. And all Estonia was changed. Right? That's Sabbath obedience. Nothing less than that is Sabbath obedience and God wants his Sabbath back.

Thousands are being told, if you love the Lord, you'll keep his commandments. And then they go out and beat themselves up and try to keep his commitments. You can't do it. You realize this, since every command in this book is impossible, he's never told you anything that you're able to do.

Since every command in this book is impossible, every command becomes a promise. Every command in this book is a promise. I'm going to claim the promises of God. I've never heard anyone stand up and say, I'm going to claim the commands of God.

Right on. You can multiply those promises many times, because every time God ever tells you to do something, with the command, is the promise, the enablement that you're going to be able to do it. So he calls you forward, first to face your disability, second to look into the face of your only help, and then he gives you the command.

Starts with God, it ends with God. Stretch it forward. See, that's a lot different than sitting around waiting for it to happen. That's a whole lot different than saying, I'm going to wait until God fills my heart with love, and then I'm going to love my enemy.

Now, that's not what he says, sit around and wait. You know what he says? Come forward, take a good look at me, go love your enemy, and as you stretch it forth, you find you're able to do it. Go forgive that guy who's sitting against you.

Say, I can't forgive him. Come forward, take a look at you with it, and go forgive your enemy. And as you attempt to do it by the power of God, then you're enabled to do it. We stand trembling sometimes on the verge of God's command, that command to love my wife as Christ loved the church.

You know, I used to think because I loved her so much, naturally, that I could love her as Christ loved the church. I can. I don't need a command to tell me to love Lillian. I love Lillian without a command, but not as Christ loved the church.

To love her that way, I gotta stand in front of Jesus, confess my withered hand, and then attempt by His grace, and then He does it. And that's the same way she gotta submit to me. And that's the way wives have to submit.

And in every case, this is what Sabbath obedience is. It's coming before Him and doing what's not possible to do. Let me make one final observation here. This is a perpetual miracle. You'll never get to the point, and I'll never get to the point.

Will He heal my withered hand? The answer is yes with every command. Will it be finally healed forever? No. You'll always have a withered hand, and I'll always have a withered hand, but with every command He'll heal your withered hand and mine.

One reason He does it that way. You know, we like to think when we're growing in the Lord, oh, I've come a long way in the Lord. My hand's not withered anymore. Ah, your hand's still withered, and that's a sign you've come on in the Lord.

I don't mean this in the wrong way, but isn't it encouraging sometimes to see the elders with a withered hand? It sort of encourages me. It gives me hope. Don't cover your hand. Don't cover your withered hand.

Don't cover your helplessness, especially you that are elders and you that have gone on in the Lord. We who are young, we who are learning the ways of God, we need to know that you're just like we are.

We're failing all the time, but we look to the spiritual hotshots, and it seems like they never have trouble. The spiritual hotshots need to come forward and stand publicly before the Lord Jesus and let everybody know that they can't do it either.

Only Jesus can do it. He wants to do it, and that's his Sabbath, and that's what he's come to set you free, to learn how to obey God, and the way to obey God is to come with a withered hand, and by the power of God, keep your eye in his face, and do what can't be done, and stretch it forward.

Oh, may God help us with this Sabbath obedience. Turn please to John chapter 9 very quickly, just before I think we'll look at the heart of this. I know I'm fine. I'm only teasing. I'm fine. No, no, don't get it.

I'm teasing. Honestly. No, it's okay. She's a dear. Chapter 9 of John, three times in the ministry of our Lord Jesus, he healed the blind, two blind men in Capernaum, Matthew 9, two blind men in Jericho, Matthew 20, and a couple of other passages, and here in John 9, the basic difference is that this miracle was on the Sabbath day, that made it unique, and the other difference is in verse 32, since the beginning of time, it's never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of the blind.

This man was born blind, that made it unique. I have a book in my library that discusses 70 of the chief miracles in the Old Testament, but healing a man born blind is not one of them. This is unique, and God saved this for the Sabbath day miracle, a man who by nature cannot see.

It had to be born blind. In order to illustrate by nature, we can't see. When Jesus stood up to proclaim jubilee, he said, the spirit is upon me, he's anointed me to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind, and that's exactly what he's going to do here.

Sabbath Sight: Jesus Opens the Eyes of the Blind

Now as you can see, it's a long chapter. I may never quit. Excuse me one moment. This chapter has 41 verses, and rather than reading all of the verses, let me just sort of get the heart of it before you.

It begins in verse one with physical blindness, and it ends in verse 40. The Pharisees asked, we're not blind too, are we? The fifth Sabbath miracle has to do with spiritual vision. That's what this story's all about.

Now follow along, please, as I read these selected verses. Chapter nine, one, and as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. Verse six, and when he had said this, he sped on the ground and made clay of the spittle, applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated sin.

And so he went away and washed and came back seeing. Verse 13, and they brought to the Pharisees him who was formerly blind. Now it was the Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

Again, therefore, the Pharisees also were asking him how he received his sight. He said to them, he applied clay to my eyes. I washed and I see. Therefore, some of the Pharisees were saying, this man's not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.

Others were saying, how can a man who's a sinner perform such signs? And there was a division among them. They answered and said to him, you were born entirely in sins and are you teaching us? And they put him out.

Verse 35, Jesus heard that they had put him out and finding him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered and said, who is he Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you've both seen him and he's the one who's talking with you.

And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Let me just mention the Sabbath miracle. We've seen the Sabbath surrender, Sabbath service, Sabbath liberty, Sabbath obedience. This is Sabbath sight.

And in case I get lost in my notes, this is the principle that is indispensable. That's what this is, the indispensable principle. Naturally, I cannot see. I can only see when God gives me eyes to see.

I'm going to jump over some of the details that don't tie in to the main message. But I want to say one word about the opening verses. The question that the disciples asked in verse 2, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

I've always wondered what they meant by that. How could he sin if he was born blind? But I read some of the things that they believed in those days, so I don't know. But they asked the question, what caused his blindness?

And I want to make a suggestion to you that Jesus did not answer that question. You know, there's one way to read it, and it looks like he answered the question, for the glory of God. But I don't think that was the answer.

I don't think Jesus answered the question. What he said was, the answer you fellows have is wrong. You're on the wrong track. It's not him that sinned, or his parents that sinned. But then he didn't give an answer.

You know that in the Bible the punctuation wasn't there in the original, and sometimes they didn't punctuate, I don't think, in the right place. You know, dear old Cardinal Hugo in 1100 and whatever, who gave us the verses and chapters, he did a great service to the church, but he put some in the wrong place, I think.

If you put a comma after verse 3, I think you'll get what the Lord is saying. If you put a comma after verse 3, in order that the works of God might be displayed in him, we must work the works of him who sent me, as long as it is day.

That's not answering the question. Here's what he's saying. You said, what made this man blind? Was it sin? And he said, no, you're on the wrong track. It's not sin. And then he did not say, I made him blind.

So he didn't say that. What he said is, you're on the wrong track and it's not important that you know what it is, but it has now become an occasion for the glory of God. Who cares what caused it? And now he says that we must work the works of him that sent me.

He's not saying I made him blind because I had a purpose. I'm not saying he didn't. I'm saying it doesn't say that. What it says is, you guys are wrong, and it's not important how the thing started. The question is, where do we go from here?

And now we have an occasion that is for the glory of God. Let's pick it up right there. I call attention to that because as you know, the psychological victory is being spread all over the place rather than the victory of the Lord, and we're getting all this psychology stuff, and dig back in your past and find some conflict when you were a kid, and what caused this and what caused that, and was it his parents' fault, was it the environment, was it the uncle that didn't get hurt, whatever it was.

I'll tell you, you find someone with a problem, what caused it? I don't know, but we must work the works of God now to bring it to God's glory. And I don't care what caused it. It's now become an occasion for the glory of God.

And that's what Jesus, he didn't answer the question, he just said, let's now, you're wrong, so let's forget that, it's not sin, but let's take it now and use it, and we must work the works of him that sent me.

I know it's possible by saying that the principle is sight, just being as we are, so easily let us say, then we might start looking at sight. Sight is not the principle, Jesus is the principle, he's always the principle, and because God gives sight, it's in order to see Jesus.

And I want to show you how the vision of Jesus began to grow in this man as the Lord began to work with him. Now we're being introduced to something new. Persecution. In these Sabbath miracles, God sort of gives it to us in degrees.

At first they're angry at Jesus, and then they're a little angry at the guy because he's doing what Jesus told him to do, but they took it out on Jesus. Now as we move along, the persecution is going to come to the individual.

This is all part of the progressive unveiling of Sabbath truth. When Jesus first came to this dear man, he was a blind beggar, and as far as his knowledge of the Lord, his vision of the Lord, he had none.

He did not know who this man was, and nothing made sense. And it didn't make sense as clay was put into his blind eyes. That didn't make sense to him. And you know how we always say, come to Jesus, come to Jesus.

Jesus said to that man, go away, go away. That didn't make sense. You'd expect Jesus to say, come here, let me hug you, let me hold you, let me touch your eyes, let me heal you. And Jesus sent him a son in while they were having church service.

Go on, get out of church here, you can never buy the book of clue about it. Nothing made sense to this man when he started off. But he had enough light to do God's will, didn't he. And, by the way, in this connection, someone says, I wish God would give me more light so I'd know what to do.

You've got enough light. You do. Act on it. And you become a candidate for more light. You have all the light you need to be the Christian God wants you to be in this moment. I have all the light I need to be the Christian God wants me to be this very moment and you always have all the light you need.

Act on it and watch what happens. This man goes down to the pool, splashes, splashes. Rick, we've all been blessed by that. He was washed away. He had eyes. He had vision. And all of a sudden the persecution starts coming and his neighbors and his friends, they don't like this.

And they begin to say, well, you know, he looks just like that blind beggar that was there. I'm not sure that's the same guy. One reason I know is he was blind. This guy can see. He can't be the same guy.

And so verse 10, how will your eyes open? He answers verse 11. The man who is called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, said to me, go to Siloam and wash. So I went away and lost. I received my sight and they said to him, where is he?

And he said, I do not know. What does this man know? When he started off, he knew nothing and was all confused. Now he knows his name, a man named Jesus. That's all I know. I don't know anything else.

Where is he? I don't know. I don't know anything. The he gets turned up. They begin to pressure him. The Pharisees get all bent out of shape. This thing goes down on the side of the, bring that guy up here.

And he comes up and now the Pharisees are going to give him the drilling. Verse 17. And they said, therefore, to the blind man again, what do you say about him since he opened your eyes? He said, he's a prophet.

Where did he get that? Think about it. His eyes are getting open wider and wider. When he started off, he doesn't know things. He doesn't know anything. He just goes down there and he comes back. Who did that?

A man named Jesus. That's all I know. Where is he? I don't know. What about him? I don't know. Pharisees. Who did that? He's a prophet. Getting bolder and bolder all the time. Then the Pharisees get all upset and they call his parents in and they threaten to excommunicate his parents.

And they get nervous over the whole thing. And they won't even take a stand with their own son. Verse 21. Ask him. He knows. He's of age. Ask him. So they bring him again. Verse 24. Second time they called a man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God.

We know this man's a sinner. He therefore answered, whether he's a sinner, I do not know. One thing I know, whereas once I was blind, now I see. All I know is I can see. You guys are talking about the Sabbath day.

I don't know about the Sabbath day. You guys are talking about sinners. I don't know about sinners. You guys are talking about giving God glory. I don't know anything about that. All I know is I can see.

I can see that you can talk all you want and give all the lies you want and you can argue and you can beat me up. I can see speaking with more boldness and more assurance. So they keep at it. Verse 26.