Sight to the Blind (John 9:35-41 Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Sight to the Blind

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There are so many amazing things that are going on, but I want to start out by putting our hearts focus where it belongs.
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And I'm going to read out of Psalm 146 verse 2. I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
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I absolutely love that phrase. I may not have as many years as some of you younger people do, but as long as I live,
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I get to praise the Lord. It is not because I'm that great of a deal.
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It's not because I'm all that worthy, because I in and of myself,
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I'm a sinner, but I know that the blood of Christ, I know that God's love on that cross.
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I have the privilege every day as long as I live to praise the
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Lord. And we're here this morning, and what an opportunity. Many years ago,
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I was at a men's retreat at Keswick. And the room was packed.
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It was their auditorium. I don't remember what it was, but the room was was packed. I have this wild imagination sometimes, and you get a bunch of guys together for a
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Christian retreat. I have this wild imagination that Satan dispatches a whole bunch of his demons to go make trouble.
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And here we are in the middle of this room. There had to have been, I don't know, five, six hundred men there singing praise songs.
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And in my mind's eye, I had all these demons going, ah, get me out of here, because praise to the
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Lord is something that that will drive Satan away. But I will praise the
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Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have being.
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That is one of the greatest blessings that we have as children of God, those who have bowed the knee, to praise him.
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But Satan is going to do everything he can to distract you, to get you off the rail.
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But here's the thing, God's awesomeness remains, and greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
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I got some announcements. First of all, come back tomorrow at seven o 'clock for our congregational meeting.
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It's going to be an important meeting. It's going to be a lot of stuff. We'll affirm our new board, our budget.
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We are going to affirm new members. We're going to hear more about our building. There's a bylaw discussion, lots of stuff coming in.
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If you are a member, please, please come. And if you're not a member, please, please come, because this is where you're fellowshipping.
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And we believe that we as believers are brothers and sisters in the Lord. This morning, after first service, there will be another opportunity, if you are interested, to understand the budget.
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That will be presented to meet with some folks who will discuss the budget, answer your questions.
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The intent is that tomorrow isn't the time to do a line item review of the budget. You get this opportunity.
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We did last week, and we'll do it again this week. Gentlemen, I want you to be very intentional about putting on your calendars.
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And women, I want you to be very intentional about getting your men to put it on their calendars. The end of April is our retreat.
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Some changes in retreats time passed. First of all, this one's in the spring. It's going to be down at Harvey Cedars.
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It will be a one night instead of a two night. And it will be more of a father -son men's retreat than some of the retreats we've had before.
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Which is to say, if you are a dad with a son and you believe your son is of age to be able to participate and to actively enjoy and be part of a men's retreat, that's your discretion.
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We're not setting an age limit as to when young boys can come. And here's the thing about this.
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What an amazing opportunity, gentlemen, we have if our sons come with us to the retreat for our young men to see their fathers and other older men in the church fellowshipping in a
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Christian way. And what an example that can be to help them understand the reality of the blessings of Christian fellowship.
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I want to encourage you to come. If there are reasons, financial reasons, why it's just not going to work, please don't let that be an obstacle.
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We are going to have scholarships available. Just talk to us. If you desire to come, that should not be a reason to not come.
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So join with us, talk to us, and we can talk to you about scholarship opportunities. So it's the end of April.
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You have time to be thinking about it and praying about it. If you have sons -in -law, if you have friends out of country, if you have brothers, anyway, let's have a great time of fellowship down there.
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I have no idea what the limit is at Harvey Cedars, but let's push it. Let's push it.
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There are some small group announcements to be made. This week, the
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CARE group with Jess and Holly Wright's house. It was at another house. I think this is the one, who's teaching that one?
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Tim McCormick's group. They're going to be meeting now starting this week at the
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Wright house. That's the Wright house. Jess and Holly Wright would love to host it.
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It's in Mount Holly. That will be this week, and I believe that theirs is on a Thursday night.
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There will be a high school small group starting. Eric and Carrie Meyer are going to be hosting and leading a high school group starting not this
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Tuesday, but the following Tuesday at your house, at their house, at the Meyer house.
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And so they would love to have you there. Love Life is not this weekend. It will be next weekend.
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So you can think about that in advance. And we know our regular schedule is in full swing.
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Come with us tonight for our prayer meeting. Tonight, and there's the men's classes, the women's classes, the small groups.
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Great opportunities to grow together in the Lord. Let's go to prayer. I will praise the
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Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
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Lord, we praise you. You are the creator. You are righteous.
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You are sovereign, and you are all -knowing, all -powerful. You are holy.
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You are just. You are loving. This morning we come to worship you. We call you
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Lord. Father, we acknowledge our sins. We acknowledge our sinfulness.
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We stand in awe of the gift of salvation, the blood shed to cleanse us from all sins.
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We stand in awe of the grace that you give to call us to yourself, even enabling us to respond in faith.
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We stand in awe of the relationship we get to have with you. We say thank you,
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Lord, for the gift of the Holy Spirit. It helps us to know you better.
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It helps us to surrender to your will, to walk in your way. Lord, we continue to pray for those in our midst in need, for health, for bereavement.
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We continue to lift them up. We say thank you, Lord, that you know and you are with them. We stand assured with you.
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We pray this morning that you would continue to speak through Pastor Jeff. We pray for eyes that are opened to see, opened by you and by your grace, by your mercy.
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Speak through Pastor Jeff and open our hearts to hear this message. This morning we pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Can we stand together? God, it's all
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Awake my soul and sing Of him who died for thee
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And hail him as thy matchless king through all eternity
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Majesty, lord of all, let every throne before him fall
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The king of kings, O come, adore our
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God who reigns forevermore
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Crown him the lord of life, who triumphed o 'er the grave
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And rose victorious in the strife for those he came to save His glory is now to sing
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Who died and rose from the dead
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Who died eternal life to bring and live to that day
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Majesty, lord of all, let every throne before him fall
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The king of kings, O come, adore our
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God who reigns forevermore
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All hail, Redeemer, hail, for he has died for me
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His praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity
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All hail, Redeemer, hail, for he has died for me
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His praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity
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Majesty, lord of all, let every throne before him fall
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The king of kings, O come, adore our
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God who reigns forevermore
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God who reigns forevermore
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You're the God who reigns forevermore
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It is great to sing praise to his name this morning. No matter how bad things seem to be, we have to remember that God is for us.
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He will never leave us, never forsake us. We are his children, and he loves us deeply.
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In James chapter 1, it says, consider it joy whenever you face trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
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Let's sing together, God is for us, who can be against us. We won't fear the battle, we won't fear the night.
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We will walk the valley with you by our side. You will go before us, you will lead the way.
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We have found a refuge only you can save. Sing with joy now, our
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God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress.
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Raise your voice now, your love is greater. Who can stand against us if our
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God is for us? Even when
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I stumble, even when I stumble, even when
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I fall, even when I turn back, still your love is sure.
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You will not abandon, you will not forsake. You will cheer me onward with never -ending praise.
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Sing with joy now, our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress.
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Raise your voice now, your love is greater. Who can stand against us if our
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God is for us? Neither height nor depth, neither height nor depth can separate us.
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Hell and death will not defeat us. He who gave his
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Son to free us holds me in his love.
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Neither height nor depth can separate us.
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Hell and death will not defeat us. He who gave his
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Son to free us holds me in his love.
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Sing with joy now, our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress.
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Raise your voice now, your love is greater. Who can stand against us if our
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God is for us? Sing with joy now, our
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God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress.
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Raise your voice now, your love is greater. Who can stand against us if our
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God is for us? He is our
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God. He is our fortress. There is no one like him. He is holy and his glory fills the entire earth, as it says throughout the
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Psalms. Lord, you are worthy. You are worthy of our praise this morning and throughout every day.
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Lord, we pray that our faith in you will just bubble over into singing praises to your name.
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We stand here before your throne singing praises to the only one who deserves our praise.
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You are holy. Your glory is matchless. Who can light the fires of a thousand burning suns?
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Blazing in the heavens, there is only one.
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He is our God. Who commands the nations building up and tearing down?
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Silence is revival. There is only one. He is our
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God. He is our
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God. Holy.
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You alone are holy. Matchless in your glory.
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Holy God. Who could come to save us when we turned away his love?
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Conquer us with kindness. There is only one. He is our
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God. He is our
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God. Holy.
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You alone are holy. Matchless in your glory.
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No one is like you. Worthy. You alone are worthy.
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We adore you. Holy, holy
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God. Now to the king on the throne who was and is to come and to the lamb who was slain be your glory.
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Now to the king on the throne who was and is to come and to the lamb who was slain be your glory.
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Holy. You alone are holy.
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Matchless in your glory. Holy. You alone are worthy.
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We adore you. Holy, holy
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God. You are worthy to receive our praise,
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Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
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Holy God, we praise you this morning for you are worthy. You are the king of kings and lord of lords.
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You made the heavens and the earth and everything that we see with our eyes, all of it testifies to who you are, the one true
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God. This morning we want to thank you for giving us eyes to see that Jesus is the
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Christ, the son of God. And Lord, we pray that any who are in this building this morning or watching online who are yet blind, who do not yet see that Jesus is the
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Christ, the son of the living God. We pray that you would open their eyes. Lord, we're praying that you would do a miracle through the preaching of your word that eyes would see him, some would come to be saved.
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We pray, Lord, that as we go from this place today, we will have met with you and seen you, that we would know you more and you would send us out to proclaim the gospel of grace.
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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Pride comes in many different flavors, but each flavor masks the poison of pride.
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Pride tastes so good to the one who is drinking deeply of it, but pride, make no mistake, pride is deadly.
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One of the flavors of pride is what I call Princeton pride.
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My good friend and I go and share the gospel at Princeton University, and the evangelist
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Philip and I will go, and we've shared the gospel with maybe a hundred or so people, but only one or two have come to genuine saving faith.
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However, I noticed something this week, and that is for the second time we shared the gospel with a construction worker who was not a student at Princeton, but was there.
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This guy was an electrician on Thursday. And as we shared the message of God's judgment because of sin, he took it seriously.
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And then when we asked him if he knew what God had done for sinners like us, this construction worker was eager to hear.
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He asked and he waited to hear what God had done, and we were able to tell him about Jesus Christ.
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And he made the good confession. He was able to say that Jesus is the
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Christ who died for his sins and rose from the dead. Princeton pride is a kind of educational pride, pride in knowledge.
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One time I went to Princeton because Dennis Prager was speaking there. Dennis Prager is one of the wisest men in terms of worldly understanding, relationships, and how economies work, and how the nations of the world carry about their business.
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And he speaks daily and often with great wisdom. But after he spoke, I was able to talk with him for about 10 minutes, and I shared the prophecies of Christ as found in the
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Hebrew Bible. Now, mind you, Dennis Prager has been writing a five -volume set on the first five books of the
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Old Testament. He rejects the claim of Jesus Christ, the
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Messiah. For all of his wisdom in other areas, he's missing the one needful thing.
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And sadly, the pride of his knowledge has blinded him from seeing the light of the gospel.
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Romans 219 speaks of one who is sure that he is a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness.
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But only Jesus Christ is the light of the world. And until one comes to see him for who he is, he himself is blind until eyes are opened to see.
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One of the things that blinds people to the gospel is this Princeton pride, this educational pride, this knowledge.
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It says in 1 Corinthians 118, the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
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For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning,
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I will thwart. He goes on to say, consider your calling, brothers, that not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.
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Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
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God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. Educational pride blinds many people from believing the gospel of Jesus.
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But there are other flavors of pride, as I'm sure you can imagine. Youthful pride would be looking down on those who are older than you and assuming that you know more.
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Not looking to gray hair as an indication of a wise man, but rather just calling him boomer and dismissing him.
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In 1 John 2 .16, it says, all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eye and the pride of life is not from the
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Father, but from the world. When a young person sees so many years ahead of him or her, there is a pride of life that anticipates so many days yet to come, when each one is like a vapor.
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There is an ethnic pride. People delight in their ethnicity, and that can become a hindrance to the gospel.
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Some people assume that they're Catholic just because they were born Italian. Others worship the gods of Wakanda because they're taught to do that by BLM.
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Some who are Irish worship Celtic gods, Celtic gods, whoever you say that.
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And then there is gender pride. There are some who are delighting in their gender.
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I am woman, hear me roar. Girl power, you know, you've heard it. But the opposite is equally true, a pride in masculinity.
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There's an entire movement they call the Manosphere, or being red -pilled. One particular group, men going their own way, eschews women, love, sex, and marriage, reacting against feminism.
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That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. But it is a gender pride.
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It can happen in either direction. And notice I say either because that is a binary, it's one or the other.
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There is, however, a sexual pride. And there is a month,
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June, named after the pride of sexuality, pride month. And sadly, this has grown in popularity and likewise keeps people from the gospel.
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You know there's an economic pride? Having wealth, which in and of itself is not sin, but James 2, 5 to 6 says, listen, my beloved brothers, has not
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God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
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But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court?
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James is not saying that it's righteous to be poor and unrighteous to be rich. He's pointing out that people who put trust in their economic resources and are seeking the goods of this world often miss the
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Christ who is beyond this world. An economic pride that keeps people from humbling themselves and trusting in Christ.
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There is a, lastly, religious pride. Religious pride is based on the traditions of a religion that have become deeply ingrained and surely the
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Pharisees had this. They could not accept the teachings of Jesus because of their tradition regarding the
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Sabbath and their interpretation of what God had intended. One Pharisee, according to Jesus, entered a synagogue and standing by himself, prayed this way,
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God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like that tax collector.
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I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying,
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God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Which of these two do you suppose left justified that day?
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It was the tax collector, humbled, aware of his sin and calling to God for salvation.
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He would find that rescue. But it was pride that kept the
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Pharisaical religious man from realizing his need. It was his religious pride.
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Well, let's turn now to John chapter 9 because what we have in John 9 is, first of all, the story of a miracle, the healing of a blind man.
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But that occupies only the first seven verses of the chapter. What unveils after that is a story of pride, a pride that blinds minds.
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And that is the pride of the Pharisees who, having witnessed this miracle, being able to validate that this man was in fact born blind and Jesus healed him, yet they refused to see.
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They are the blind ones in the story. And conversely, the gift of sight.
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Here in the story is not just about a man born physically blind. This is a theological story about being given eyes to see
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Christ. The miracle of regeneration, where someone who has no resources to come to faith is given eyes to see by the sovereign work of a gracious God.
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Let's first of all read John 9, 35 to 41. And then we'll exposit, taking from the text, the point that John had in mind.
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And this summarizes John chapter 9. So you have the seven verses at the beginning, which are the miracle.
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And then there's this dialogue, which is really debate or controversy between two.
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This is it and gives us understanding. John 9, 35 to 41.
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Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And having found him, he said, do you believe in the
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Son of Man? He answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?
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Jesus said to him, you have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you.
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He said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Jesus said, for judgment
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I came into this world that those who do not see may see.
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And those who see may become blind.
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Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt.
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But now that you say we see, your guilt remains. The point of the passage is that sight, spiritual sight, that is to believe in Christ, is a gift from God.
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It is a miracle that this blind man began to see. But conversely and equally important, those who in their religious or ethnic or gender or economic or intellectual pride think that they're okay.
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They're pridefully self -satisfied in what they see, in what they know. They're convinced of their knowledge.
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This pride blinds them from the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. And Jesus judges that pride in some cases, leaving people to their own resources in which they will die and depart from him.
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The good news of the gospel is this free offer to come into the light. Jesus is the light of the world.
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But only some come, others reject. So there is division, as we'll see.
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So first of all, in verses 35 to 37, here we see the sight -giving gospel finding a sinner.
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The sight -giving gospel finds sinners like us. It says in John 9 35,
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Jesus heard that they had cast him out. So he's been desynagogued. He's been thrown out because he's claiming that Jesus is who he claims to be.
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And notice what it says, and having found him, he said, do you believe in the son of man?
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Who found who? Now that the man who's been given sight is able to see, he surely could have gone looking for Jesus.
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But that's not the picture we have in the text. Rather, Jesus having heard, which stresses his humanity, he threw his ears, heard the information that the man had been thrown out of the synagogue.
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He goes on a search for the lost sheep. We'll see this again underscored in John 10, where the good shepherd finds that wandering sheep.
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He goes and finds a disciple. And that is a major point for John.
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Disciples are found. Jesus finds them and not the other way around.
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In fact, how did the original 12 find the Lord? If you flip back to John 1 verses 37 to the end of the chapter, we'll summarize briefly.
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A couple of disciples in John 1 35 were with John the Baptist. And Jesus came to where they were.
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He found them. They didn't know who he was until John the Baptist proclaimed this gospel truth.
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Behold the Lamb of God, it says in 1 36.
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That is gospel truth. Jesus is the Lamb of God, referring here to his sacrifice.
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He would be the one to die a sacrificial death. And John identifies him as the
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Messiah. And so in verse 37, two disciples heard him say this and they followed
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Jesus. Jesus came to where they were and they followed. They became disciples because they were found.
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Now, interestingly, they will say that they have found the Messiah. Notice Andrew is one of those who found
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Jesus, but ultimately it was Jesus who found them. So Andrew will go and find
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Peter. In verse 39, Jesus welcomes them to come and you will see where he was staying.
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They came and they saw and they stayed with him. Verse 40, one of the two who heard
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Jesus speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Notice what the text says.
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Verse 41, he first found his brother.
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Same word as in John 9. You see, disciples are being found. And he said to him, we have found the
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Messiah, which means Christ. Well, little does he know it was Jesus that found him.
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But he is welcoming another. He's finding another and bringing them. He brought him to Jesus.
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Verse 42, Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of John. You shall be called Cephas. Verse 43, notice the pattern here.
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The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip.
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And then in case you missed the point, Philip is sent and found Nathanael. And when
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Nathanael came to Jesus, Jesus points out, I had you marked while you were under the fig tree.
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I already found you. I knew you. And just by that word, that miraculous word of omniscient knowledge,
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Nathanael is able to confess. Verse 49, Rabbi, you are the son of God, the king of Israel.
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And he would see many greater miracles than that to come. But do you see John's point with this language of being found?
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And again, in John 9, 35, go back to it. Having found him, Jesus initiates,
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Jesus comes and finds the lost sinner. Now in verse 36, it says, he answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?
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Earlier in the chapter, he described what happened to him this way. He said, the man
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Jesus made mud and put it on my eyes and told me to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man
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Jesus. Later as he's considering this and what had happened to him, he calls
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Jesus what? A prophet. Is it enough to regard
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Jesus as a great man or as a prophet? No, because in verse 36, something is still missing.
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He's still asking the question, who is the son of man? Where is he?
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Point him out to me that I may believe in him. Now, a number of things could be said here, but one of them is consider the state in which he is.
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He's just been kicked out of the synagogue. He's desperate. He's alone. Even his own family has forsaken him.
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His father and mother had an opportunity to confess Christ with him, but the Bible tells us they were afraid of being kicked out of the synagogue.
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So here, this man has been desynagogued and the language that Jesus will use for him is a lot like what he used for the
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Samaritan woman. When he identifies himself as the
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Messiah, Jesus finds him in his desperate state, broken, helpless, hopeless, and asking the question, genuinely wanting to know.
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When we were at Princeton and that young man was offered the good news, he desperately wanted to hear because he was prepared for that moment by God.
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And in the same way, this man had been prepared through all of this suffering, through the things he went through, to hear the good news and to see with spiritual eyes.
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Verse 37, Jesus said to him, you have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you.
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Hearing and seeing. Here, a man is physically seeing
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Jesus and hearing him. Identify himself as the Messiah.
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But if I ask for a show of hands, who of you has seen with physical eyes the
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Son of God? Okay, if you're raising your hand because I think there's a different church for you.
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No, just kidding. There are some who make the claim that they've been visited by Jesus and received special revelation.
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But the point of the text here is that this man is one of the witnesses who saw him in his incarnation.
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And Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man. And now notice, that question that Jesus asks points to what
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God has said all along. How is it that you, who have never seen Jesus in the flesh, incarnated, are commanded to believe in him?
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How do you get spiritual sight to behold the one you've never physically seen?
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Look at the question in 35. Jesus asked, do you believe in the
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Son of Man? That question is very specific. It's one thing to call
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Jesus the man or the prophet. It's another thing to call him the
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Son of Man. Turn back to Daniel chapter 7. Hold your finger here because we won't spend long in Daniel.
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Come right back to John 9. Daniel 7 .13. The context here is a vision that Daniel has.
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And the vision is quite bizarre, very interesting. He sees a lion with wings like an eagle.
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And after the lion with the eagle wings, he sees a lopsided bear. And then after the lopsided bear, he sees a leopard.
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And then he sees a vision of God in heaven, the Ancient of Days. And the Ancient of Days is attended by a million worshipers and a hundred million attendants who are before the throne.
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And after seeing the Ancient of Days, God the Father, in verses 13 and 14, one like a
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Son of Man, mark that, Daniel 7 .13. This is the verse to which Jesus is appealing.
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If you don't know that, you really won't understand what Jesus is saying. Every Jewish person in the first century knew
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Daniel 7. This was the most famous messianic prophecy alongside Psalm 110.
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Everyone knew that the Messiah was the Son of Man. And let's read it, Daniel 7 .13. I saw in the night vision, behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a
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Son of Man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to him the
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Son of Man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.
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His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
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Son of Man means a Son of Adam. He is human. But the prophecy of the coming
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Messiah speaks to something beyond, one who is worshipped by every people group on the planet and served by them.
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The Son of Man is a messianic term. He's the coming
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King of the world, the one to whom glory is due, the one who deserves to be worshipped.
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Now, what about these beasts described and the final beast which was more terrifying than the first three?
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That first beast, according to the interpretation given to Daniel, because Daniel was given further insight, that first beast represents
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Babylon. The lion represents Babylon with the eagle wings.
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And the king there is Nebuchadnezzar, who loses his mind and acts like a beast in the fields until he gets his mind back.
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The lopsided bear is the kingdom that conquers Babylon. The lopsided bear is the
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Medo -Persian empire. It's lopsided because Persia becomes dominant over the Medes.
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But after Medo -Persia, there comes another, a leopard, very swift. Alexander the
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Great, the Greek empire, comes and conquers the Persian empire. And there's coming a greater and more terrifying one, which would be the rise of the
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Roman empire. And finally, in the revived Roman empire, the
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Antichrist, the horn that replaces three horns and dominates the world.
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This is the kingdoms of the world, the false rule of men, deceived, prideful, resistant to the true king.
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Whereas in heaven, the true king is God the Father and this one called the
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Son of Man. He's the true king of the world. He vanquishes the kingdoms that arise.
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He is the one promised and every Jewish person was waiting on his appearing.
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Now look at Daniel, I'm sorry, now look back to John chapter 9. When Jesus explains to him that he is the
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Son of Man, he is claiming to be the Messiah, the Christ, the
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Son of God worthy of worship. Maybe you've come here this morning and you have believed that Jesus is a good teacher and surely a prophet.
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I mean he's said things that no one ever said before. Love your enemies, the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do to you.
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The most beautiful and glorious teachings in the history of the world came from the mouth of Jesus Christ.
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Yet it's not enough for you to accept his morality, you must accept his claim to be king.
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His claim to be the Son of Man, which is the Son of God. Fully human and yet fully divine and worthy of worship.
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Do you believe? Now that's the question. Church, listen, I could go on preaching all day and ask a thousand questions, but there's one question that decides your eternity in heaven with God or apart from him in a lake of fire.
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Do you believe in the Son of Man? Do you believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the Son of God? Do you believe it? Do you believe it?
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The very next verse is one of the most beautiful in all the Bible because of the simplicity of what it takes to be saved.
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Look at verse 38. This humble man stripped of everything, desynagogued, outcast like the
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Samaritan woman, humbled to the place of wanting to know and ready to hear, he simply says what?
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Lord, I believe and nothing else.
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This is beautiful. Lord, I believe and he worshipped him. Now in case you've ever doubted that Jesus really is
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God in the flesh and understood himself to be God, look what Jesus does not do.
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When a man falls down to worship him, he doesn't tell the man to get up and stop worshiping him.
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He doesn't forbid it. He accepts the worship. Whenever a man in the
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Bible fell down to worship an angel, the angel would say, no, I am a servant of Yahweh just like you do not worship me.
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But whenever men and women, Matthew 28, fell down to worship
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Jesus, he accepted that worship. He knew himself to be worthy of worship because he is
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God. He is God in flesh, fully human, a son of man, yet son of God as identified in the book of John.
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He deserved worship, but look how simple it is to be saved. Dear friend, you don't have to jump through religious hoops to be saved.
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There is no list of works that you must first accomplish. There is no journey that you have to go on from Mecca to Medina or to the
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Roman Catholic Church in Rome or to Guatemala City or anything that you must do or place that you must go to be saved.
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What does it require to be saved? Simply to believe in the one that God has sent.
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To simply say, with the sighted man in verse 38, Lord, I believe.
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Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that what makes Christianity so beautiful? The pride of man that convinces him that there's something he can do to earn the acceptance of God is laid bare by this simple passage,
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Lord, I believe. Every religious tradition that esteems the the value of man and the the power of man to save himself is crushed under these three simple words.
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No man can justify himself in the sight of God. No woman can earn righteousness from a holy
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God. Together, we all stand condemned in our sin, blind, and in need of healing.
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To be healed is simply to believe. You see, the point of the tale, which is a true story, the healing of the blind man, is to say that you need sight.
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You need to be healed of blindness spiritually in order to believe in the one that God sent.
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How can you who never saw or heard him speak in person believe? You are to take him at his word.
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He spoke through prophets in the book of Daniel and every book of the Old Testament. And understand, the
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New Testament teaches this again and again. What is the book of Matthew but a proof that Jesus is the
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Christ as promised? Matthew quotes the Old Testament 65 times to prove that Jesus is the
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Christ. In John 5 29, these things are written, you know, in these you think you have life but these speak of me.
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John 5 29. You could see it again in the first two verses of the book of Romans.
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Paul appeals to the prophetic writings. 2 Peter 1 19, the prophetic word made more sure.
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All this to say, church, how can you know that Jesus really is the Christ? You take him at his word.
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The prophecies written ahead of time fulfilled in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and recorded by eyewitnesses who saw him rise from the dead.
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You're to believe as it is written because God has shown us.
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He's opened our eyes to see and he's put it plainly there before us. So now the hard part of the passage, the last three verses.
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Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see.
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And those who see may become blind.
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The appearing of Jesus is like the parting of the Red Sea. When Israel was brought out of captivity, the sea was parted into and the water stood up in heaps, one to the left and one to the right.
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When Jesus came and when he comes a second time, he will put his foot on the
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Mount of Olives and we're told the mountain itself will split in two. Jesus divides humanity.
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He says, I have come to bring a sword and this is not popular teaching, but I want to faithfully report to you what it says.
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For judgment I came into the world that those who are blind,
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I was blind but now I see. What does it mean to be blind? In the dark and you know it and you're beating your chest and saying,
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I'm broken and I'm sinful, have mercy on me and he heals your eyes and you see. But conversely, others think they already see.
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Sadly, they are convinced that they're right. And what blinds them is pride of various kinds and that pride, that self -satisfied knowledge, will ultimately result in eternal blindness.
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The word judgment there is crema and it refers to the rendering of a decision.
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A judge on the bench, he's heard all of this competing testimony, it's all confused, it's a muddle and then the judgment comes.
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In a decisive judgment, a just judge separates truth from lie and renders judgment.
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The nature of judgment is to separate and that's why as we read in the text, chapter 9 verse 9, some said it is he, others said no.
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Some, others. Chapter 9 verse 16, this man is not from God.
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Others said, how can a man do these signs if he's a sinner? Some, others.
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Chapter 9 verse 16, there was a, what? Division. For judgment
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I came into the world. The appearance of Christ, meaning that God himself came into the world, is a decisive moment in world history.
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It completely divides the world. It has to be that way. If Yahweh himself came to the world he made, it makes all the difference in the world.
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It is a judgment on the world in mercy or in condemnation.
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There's a separating. How can anyone be found innocent and judged right or just?
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It is by regeneration. That means a blind man begins to see.
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It's a miracle that anyone would come, that God would open blind eyes and they would see.
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Regeneration is a gift of God. What was dead comes alive.
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What was blind begins to see. Conversely, to be left in blindness, because the person says that they see, is judgment from God.
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And nobody here should want to be found blind. So lastly, we have then a warning.
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Hear the objection of the Pharisee. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, said to him, are we also blind?
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Can you hear the scorn and the mockery of Jesus's claim?
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And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt.
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But now that you say, we see, your guilt remains.
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You would have no guilt with regard to the claim of Christ. Had you never heard the gospel?
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Had you never been shown light? Here is Jesus in the flesh, having just healed a man, speaking to them, the
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King of the universe, the Messiah in their presence. That light is given to them. Had he not come, they would not be guilty for rejecting him.
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So with regard to the revelation of the son, they would have no guilt, but would they have guilt for their own sin?
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Yes. Romans 5 explains that difference. All people are guilty on account of their works, their own sins.
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And on account of those sins, they will justly be sent to hell. But Jesus is saying here, if there had been no gospel, there would be no guilt for rejecting the gospel.
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But how much severe the punishment for those who trample the son of God underfoot.
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What double condemnation remains for those who were blind, who were dead in their sin, and judged guilty, and having been sent light, refused to come into it for fear that their deeds would be exposed.
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In other words, when light comes into the world, it either softens the wax, or it hardens the clay.
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Great theologians have used that analogy. The same sun that softens wax, hardens clay.
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Do you understand? When light shines on a heart, it either enlightens, or it causes that heart to callous over in hardened unbelief.
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And that's what he's saying in verse 41. Now that you say we see, you're so convinced of your knowledge, you're so convinced that you're okay without the
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Messiah, without his claim to be the light, your guilt remains.
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They're now found guilty not only for their sin, but doubly condemned on account of unbelief.
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That's a strong warning, isn't it? That the light came into the world is glorious and good news.
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Here's what it means in closing. It means that any of you here who are like the sighted man, physically sighted, but you've been an outcast, you've been put out of the synagogue, you feel rejected maybe by family, maybe in some other way you feel helpless or desperate, and most importantly, you know that you're not okay on your own.
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You know that you're a sinner. You're aware of your guilt. You're not hiding it any longer.
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You're saying, have mercy on me, the sinner. Here's the good news. Like the Samaritan woman who had slept with these five men and was living with a man that she was not married to,
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Jesus reveals to her, it is I, the Messiah.
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John chapter 4. And to this desynagogued man who's broken and helpless, he finds him.
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Here's the good news. If you'll humble yourself, he will lift you up. If you beg that your eyes be opened, he's happy to do it.
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And conversely, if in your pride you are convinced that you're okay, your education has convinced you that the claims of Christ are spurious, that the book is corrupt, that there's contradictions that can't be explained.
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If in your religious pride, you'll just stick with the traditions of your fathers. Your guilt remains.
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You're blind. So I encourage you, listener, to turn from your sin, to beat your chest like the tax collector, and say,
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Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. And you will find Jesus to be a perfect Savior.
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He is the light of the world. He will open your eyes, regenerate you, give you life.
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Seek and you will find that seeking itself is a gift from God.
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He's brought you to this place. He's emptied you of yourself. He's broken you in mercy and in love.
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He's humbled you in order to lift you up, to give you eternal life.
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But don't leave here this morning or turn off the video without having turned and believed in Jesus Christ.
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Let's pray for that. God, the story of John 9 is so powerful.
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And the first thing that we Christians want to say to you, God, is thank you for opening our eyes.
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God, I once was blind, but now I see. And I take no credit for that. We take no credit for that,
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God. It was your grace. You gave us eyes to see.
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That is, you granted us faith. But, Lord, this morning we are praying for those who have not yet come and their guilt remains.
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We pray, Lord, that you would be merciful to our loved ones. God, we pray that you would open their eyes.
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You alone can do it, God. We pray that they would humbly confess their sin to you and even their sin of unbelief.
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They would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. They would believe that Jesus was nailed to a
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Roman cross, not for his sins, but for ours. That he bled and died a gruesome death, but that he was buried and on the third day rose from the dead and now offers life to all who call upon him.
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Lord, I pray that you would open hearts to believe, that some right now would call upon the name of the
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Son of God and say, Lord, I believe. So simple a prayer,
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Lord, I believe. And then for the rest of their lives, that they would continue to worship the
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King of kings and Lord of lords, in whose name we pray, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Hear justice and mercy embrace
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Hear the Son of God Who came this life,
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O love, And in your measureless death was he raised
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Jesus, to you we lift our eyes
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Jesus, our glory and our pride
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We adore you, behold you, our
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Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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Turn your eyes to the
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Lord And see
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Christ, the Lion of life in our name
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Jesus, to you we lift our eyes
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Jesus, our glory and our pride
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We adore you, behold you, our
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Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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Turn your eyes to the
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King Our King will reign
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Jesus, to you we lift our eyes Jesus, our glory and our pride
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We adore you, behold you, our
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Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.