Mt. Carmel Church | changed by what he couldn’t see
What’s the Rhodes family? How you doing? How you doing online? Great to have you with us this morning. My Name’s Chad. My wife don’t know the pastors here. We’re on a series we’ve been really enjoying called your story more than a post just talking about our life that your life story is more than one event, more than one set of circumstances, more than one snapshot of what’s going on in this exact season of your life. Mt. Carmel Church There’s there’s a whole lot that goes into making up your story and so we’re gonna. Jump right into it today. If you get out your bibles, you get your sermon notes, they’re in your worship guide or you can get on your youversion Bible App, but let’s open up our bibles to John Chapter Nine, John Chapter nine. Just happy about the Bible. Happy about what God’s going to say to us, and while you’re turning there, I just want to take a moment and I’m just wanting to pray and just ask God to speak to his father.
I just thank you for your presence already, Lord, without you or we’re not enough, and so I just need you to speak to all of our hearts today, open up things that we can see clearly what you want to do in our life. Have this time. God, we pray for living word, Mt. Carmel Church pray for power to come to do what you’ve called us to do. Grow us into who you’ve called us to become old. Glory to you. Jesus. We love you. Amen. Amen. Your story more than a post. We’ve been on this for a few weeks, so we started out with the story of ray hub. We’ve been taking different characters in the Bible and different stories and breaking them down. We talked about Rehab, went from Charlotte to hero. Then we went, talked about legion. Larry and I had a great top time talking about legion Larry, and then we talked about Peter’s ups and downs.
Last week we talked about rejection. Rita, the woman at the well and broke down her story a little bit so we can know a little bit about her. Today we’re going to talk about a guy who, uh, whose life was changed by what he couldn’t see. His life was changed by what he couldn’t see. Have you ever, have you ever heard someone? I’m having a big reveal, you know, like a gender reveal party. It’s kind of a pretty common thing now that we want to have this big announcement posted on facebook or social media about whether it’s a girl or a boy and it’s really cool. It’s interesting. People are getting more creative about it, you know, Mt. Carmel Church they’re like blowing things up and either blue smoke comes out or pink smoke comes out or, or they’re cutting into cakes and it’s a blue kc or pink cake or whatever they do.
They balloons are popping blue. It’s all about a big reveal. You know, maybe. Or maybe your, your thing is those makeover shows, you know, how they redo the house and they put it behind the screen and then they pull the screen back and they show you what’s there. Will reveal is about showing you something. Are you getting to know something that’s already known? It’s already there. You just don’t know it yet, like it’s already a girl. You just don’t know. Mt. Carmel Church It’s a girl. So the gender reveal is like, oh, what it is. When you see the pink smoke, that’s not when it became a girl. That’s when you realized it was a girl, you know, so it’s. It’s that whenever they pull the screens back, the house, the remodeled house didn’t just show up. It was already there. You just didn’t see it yet and that’s what we’re going to talk about.
There’s some things that God wants to reveal in our lives and show us some things and so have you ever had that where you’ve. You’ve not known something that was already there but you didn’t see it yet, and we will talk about the difference in creating something and revealing something, creating something. It’s when you make something that didn’t exist before, but when you reveal something is when you actually show something that’s already created. It’s already been there three. Mt. Carmel Church It was already real, but you just didn’t see it yet. And our walk with God, your story more than a post is about in our walk with God. It’s a whole lot about him revealing things to us that were already there. It’s about revealing good things to us that we didn’t know about ourselves. There’s some things about you that you don’t know that God wants to reveal to you Mt. Carmel Church.
When I keep doing this, that’s my sign language for reveal, I guess if you’re not sure, it’s like you take something off of something. It’s like, Walla is there, you know, are we just watching America’s got talent and they got these musicians and there are musicians, magicians, musicians too, but magician, someone, they do these things with these magic cards and I’m like, wow, that’s pretty impressive. I know I don’t necessarily believe in magic, but I don’t know how you did that. It’s like revealing, but if I knew the secret behind it, then I would know how he did it. So because that wasn’t revealed to me, Mt. Carmel Church I don’t know. And that’s what we’re talking about. God wants to reveal some things to us. So let’s take a look at this. In the Bible, in John Chapter Nine says here in verse one, again talking about this guy whose life was changed by what he couldn’t see.
Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth. Mt. Carmel Church All right, you check in with me. Get yourself in the store. You’re on. Need to be in this story with me. He was blind from birth and never see anything in his life. Had No grid for things that you could see blind from his birth and his disciples asked him, they said, rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind. Now the Jews believed that all calamities were the result of sin so that if something happened, something was wrong, something sickness or disease or blindness in this case than evidently someone had sin somewhere to cause it, and that’s why they ask the question like, Jesus, okay, who sinned? That this guy was born blind? His Mom, his dad or him. What happened to that? Has anyone ever spun themselves into the ground trying to figure out why something happened? How many times have we got so caught up and trying to figure out why something happened? What was the cause? What did I do wrong, right? When did I do wrong to deserve this? What did I do wrong to cause this, you know, this bad thing happened, so what did I do wrong? What is the cost? So we start thinking about the cause and what, what happened, why, why, Mt. Carmel Church why? And we just spin ourselves in the ground, get all stressed out because we’re trying to figure out why.
Now I understand there’s a place for figuring out root issues. I understand there’s a place for if I keep making the same mistake over and over, maybe there’s something I’m not paying attention to that needs to be changed. I get that, but what I’m wanting to applied today that I think we make a bigger mistake is we spend too much time focusing on the why instead of on the what. Now I don’t think it’s wrong to take a look at the one, Mt. Carmel Church but this is what they did. They were like, well, why did this happen? Why? Why did this take place? Look what Jesus response wasn’t. Verse three, a neither this man nor his parents sinned,
neither one of them sin. That’s not the cause, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. Jesus takes an imp, takes the emphasis away from the cause and moves it and focuses on the opportunity that the works of God could be revealed, and this was what he’s talking about. You ever met those people that they feel like they’re experts on diagnosing why your life is the way it is. You’ve got those people that they’re great at talking about why something is, Oh, I’ll tell you exactly what your problem is. Come here. Here. I’ll tell you what’s going on here. We got this, this, this. That’s why you’re where you are right there. I guarantee you. Mt. Carmel Church That’s what it is. It’s simple as the noses in your face. Come on. That’s what’s happening. That’s they always want to tell you what or something happened and they come back to you with this.
Well, I knew, I knew that was going to happen. You didn’t know, you know, try to come in on the back end like you know everything is going to have like. You can’t ever surprise those people like, oh, I know. Mt. Carmel Church. I’m not surprised at all. I’m not as broad as that happened to them. I figured if they knew that was going to happen, I know you didn’t know. You know, people like that just to keep your eyes straight forward. If you’re sitting beside him, don’t even look to the right or left, but it’s what happens. Some people, they feel like it’s God’s gift that they’re gifting in the world is to point out people’s faults and here’s what I think. Here’s what I found. A cause focused life. Always trying to figure out the why. A focus on that. I realized there’s some application for book cause focused. Life can lead to guilt and condemnation. Mt. Carmel Church Why am I like the cost focus, but a solution focused life leads to hope and opportunity.
Yes,
so I don’t want to be a cost focused. It’s not that I don’t want to find out what causes our. I’m for that, but at some point you got to get past telling me where I am and tell me where I can go to many times in the church, the message has been, this is what you can’t do, or this is what you shouldn’t do, or this is why you’re where you are. Mt. Carmel Church You did this and that’s where you are. You didn’t do that. That’s where you are. So this is where you are. All right. There you are. You like, well, you’re just a sinner. That’s why you’re just nobody’s righteous. Not even you. Okay, so I’m, I’m a sinner. Okay, great. Mt. Carmel Church, that’s, that’s it. You’re a sinner. Well, now what? What past that? Once I realized that once I realized that they’d give me something to build on, don’t just leave me at worthless wretch of a center.
I got to have something like a connect. Can I get some hope? Kim? Do I have any opportunity? Mt. Carmel Church. No opportunity for you. You’re just a sinner. Great. So I got that working for me, which is nice. So this will what’s happening. There’s too much focus on that, but he said, here’s why this is the way it is. He said that the works of God may be revealed. Now, here’s what happens. The word works means the result of someone’s activity or what has been done. The word revealed means to make known or visible, so what? Let’s read that in that context, neither him nor his parents, but that the works of God should be revealed in him, the works of God or the activity of God, what God is doing, the result of God’s activity so that God’s activity, what God’s doing could be revealed in him. In other words, not so that God could start doing something in this man, Mt. Carmel Church but that what God is doing in this man could be revealed.
Have you ever thought that God wasn’t doing anything in your life? Only to found out later that he was working all along. It was like, God, what are you going to start moving in my life? Oh, okay. Mt. Carmel Church I guess you’ve been working all along. Thank you very much. Sorry about that, but that’s what he’s talking about. He said, this guy is blind. Not so that God can start doing something today, but that you can see on earth. It can be revealed what he’s doing all the time. Here’s what he’s doing all the time. He’s making blind people. See, he’s willing to bring light into this man’s life. See, so when Jesus walks across a blind man’s path and he says in the Bible that he only do does what? what? He sees the father doing heaven. So he says, okay, Father in heaven, what do you do when you come across blind people? So here’s what I do. I make him see, so now he begins to partner with the agenda of heaven and bring sight to the blind, and now god was already doing that all the time, bringing, bringing sight to the blind, but now Jesus partnered with him so it can be revealed on earth. God’s activity, his activity, his works so that his works can be revealed. Mt. Carmel Church I hope that makes sense to you. It’s not so that God could start. We got. Don’t be a problem focused person. Be a solution. Polka focused person
sometimes. Mt. Carmel Church See like what if? What if this? If they would’ve said, hey Jesus, who sinned, this man or his parents would. If Jesus would have said, well, it’s because of his sin. What would have changed in that guy’s situation? If you’d have said, Yep, it’s a sin. That’s why. Ah, okay. That’s what I thought. That’s what Peter would have said. That’s what I thought all along. Until you what I knew it was just saying, I just look at him. My Lord Jesus sends all over it. Knowledge gives you the why. Revelation gives you the what? Now
if he would have left it at, yes, it’s his sin. That’s the cause. Okay, we’ve got the why it’s him, but it would have left him in his state. Difference in knowledge and revelation. Knowledge tells me it locates me. This is where I am. Revelation tells me where I can go and that’s what’s the difference is we got to just not be caused focus. Why did this happen? Okay, I’m not really sure why this happened, but what now should be my focus. I’m not sure why this didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but what now? What’s the opportunity for me to see the works of God in this situation? Or I can just stay in, drilled down on the why or the why not and just ruined my life. Mt. Carmel Church I can get up out of that and say, there’s an opportunity here to see the works of God.
That’s what he’s trying to say to. This guy will go on to verse four. Jesus said, I must work the works of him who sent me. While it is day four, the night is coming. When no one could work, I must work the works of him who sent me. While it is day, the night is coming. When no one can work, I’m a work. That word work there means to engage in an activity involving considerable expenditure of effort. Jesus said this, I must work. I must engage in something with considerable effort. I must work the works and when I read this and not know that I’ve said it several times there, but I’m hoping you catching what I did. When I read it, I first read past it and I went back and he said, I want you to read that again. That’s so I read it again. I’m like, moving on. Mt. Carmel Church I must work the works of him who sent me one of those day. Okay, I’m not sure what you mean by daylight. You know, night is coming. Okay, Sun’s coming down and know everyday. Now I must work the works of him who sent me, and so then the thought came into my mind, will the works of God work in my life if I don’t work them?
He said, Mt. Carmel Church I must work the works of God. I must engage them with effort.
Jesus said, I must engage the works of God with effort on my part. How much responsibility as a mind for me to see and experience the works of God in my life if I don’t work them, if I don’t engage it, if I don’t lean into it, say, okay God, I’m trusting you’re going to work in my life. This is what Jesus said, okay, I’m going to work the works of God. How do I see the blind man? Here’s what happens. Too many times we might come across the blind man say, hmm, Mt. Carmel Church. Well, I feel sorry for her.
That’s too bad. Mt. Carmel Church Need something to eat.
I’ll tell you what I’ll be praying for you
had been a great church answer, but Jesus engaged the works of God and said, blind men, he needs to see. So he engaged the blind man. Instead of just walking past it. You’ll see what I’m talking about here. So let’s go on. He says, as long as I’m in the world, I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world. He’s, he’s the light. So now what does light do? Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness. Check this out. This very carefully. He who follows me or see who follows me, they who follow me will not walk in darkness. So now the converse is that is also true. He or see who does not follow me, Mt. Carmel Church we’ll walk in darkness.
You see what I’m saying there? He said, those who follow me, they’ll, they’ll will not walk in darkness, but those who do not follow me, we’ll walk in darkness. Why is that? Because it’s like following someone in the woods at night. Someone in front of you. It’s got a light. If as long as you follow them and they’ve got the light shining down, you will walk into life, but if you choose not to follow them and go off the path, you don’t. It’s not that the light went off, it’s did you chose to walk in darkness when as long as we follow him, we’re going to walk in the light. But when we stopped walking in the light, now we’re in the darkness. Now how do you walk around in the darkness? You walk in around the darkness, totally different than you walk in the light. When I’m walking in the light, you know I see something. I’ve seen you. I can walk right around now, no problem. Mt. Carmel Church if it’s completely pitch dark in here and I’m walking around, okay, Ledge. You walk around totally different when it’s dark, right? What do you do? You start feeling your way around,
you start feeling your way around, and now my feelings lead me because I’ve lost my sight. Now I start going by feelings. When you lose your sight, the rest of your senses get more sensitive now. Now, so what happens when we lose our sign? This what God spoke to me. When you lose your vision, your God vision for your life, then you start allowing your feelings to lead you through life. Well, I just don’t feel like praying today. I just don’t feel like God loves me today. I don’t Mt. Carmel Church. I don’t feel like I’m a Christian today. I don’t feel like forgiving them. I don’t feel like walking in love. I don’t feel. He said, hey, you got to let your feelings lead you. Where are you going to let your vision lead you? This is what he’s wanting to restore to this blind guy. He was letting his feelings lead his life and you get sensitive, so now all of a sudden I’m more easily offended now because I’ve lost vision for my life.
When I lose God’s vision for my life. See, when it’s in daylight, I can walk right around us, but when it’s darkness, we start stumbling over things that you normally wouldn’t stumble over. You start bumping into things you normally wouldn’t bump into things that other people are bypassing walking right through in life. All of a sudden we’re stumbling over them because we’re not following Jesus. Mt. Carmel Church Things that I used to navigate easily and get through without a scratch. All of a sudden I’m barely getting by and I’m scraping and hurt myself and and struggling areas. Why? Because stopped following Jesus.
Don’t let our feelings sleekness get our vision back. The Bible says that where people didn’t have vision, they perished in proverbs 29, 18. It talks about that, that they just wander around people where there’s no vision. People, people just wander around the parish there. They’re trying to feel their way through life and this was what was happening in this guy’s life. So goes verse six. So when he had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay. Come on, you’ve got to read that again. Are you serious? This is in the Bible. This is a great story. So when he had said these things, this is Jesus. He is Jesus spat on the ground. Jesus spits. Mt. Carmel Church I like to get myself in a story. I like to get in there with the characters spat on the ground.
Make clay with us alive in, you know the eyes of the blind man with collect. So now here’s the. Here’s the deal. We’ve got the blind guy who’s just a blind man, just as a blind man, didn’t have a name. He’s just a blind man. That’s his identity as the blind man. We got to give him a name. A blind man’s got an identity. He’s a person. He’s got a story and you know, I’m just kinda going with this thing. I like the alliteration of start with the same letter. So I just called him blind. Been Blind, Benny, whatever you want to call him. Mt. Carmel Church. So here’s blind. Been Blind, been setting by the road, can’t see, hasn’t seen his whole life. And here’s Ben’s life. Ben’s life is every day sending out and asking for money. Someone gave me money, either holds a cup or just holds his hand out or something. Just asking is here. Here. People come by, arms, arms, arms for the blind, asking and notice what happens, says Jesus came by and spat on the ground. He spat on the ground, spat on the ground and made some play. So I’m in Ben’s shoes. Okay. Spitting even in our culture, but even more in Hebrew. Culture was a sign of disdain and insult. Remember when Jesus was going to be crucified, they spit on him. When you spit on someone, it’s not a compliment.
When you, when you spit on someone, it’s not something. Thank you very much. That was awesome. Woo. I didn’t think you had that much saliva. Boy, you really got. That was fantastic. Got a bar of soap or something. I guess. Go ahead and wash off you spit on somebody. It was a sign of disgust and I’m wondering how many days been had set there and heard people spit on him or at him in disgust. How many times people walk by that he heard? Thank you for reminding me that I’m blind. Thank you for reminding me of my condition. Thank you for rubbing my nose in my face that I’ve got a divorce. Thank you for rubbing my nose in my face that I had a moral failure. Thank you for rubbing my nose in my face that I got pregnant out of wedlock. Thank you for rubbing my nose and my face that I. How many days did he get spit on? And it just rubbed his nose and his shame Mt. Carmel Church.
So I think today when Jesus walks by, he’s sitting there arms and he doesn’t. He just hears, you know, he doesn’t see what if Jesus walking by and all of a sudden he hears you know, because Jesus, I got to tell you this. It says he spat on the ground and made some clay out of mud. I’ve done my fair share of spin and it’s not going to be a cute little spit to make enough clay to put on both us to get that, to bond together. So I’m thinking this is going to be a good spit. He had to put some effort into this spit. Mt. Carmel Church So I don’t know what your perspective is of Jesus. I hope I don’t ruin it, but what if. What if Ben Setting there and all of a sudden he hears some of you like, oh no, Jesus would never hawk a no. Jesus. Jesus would not do that. Okay? She’s us. I don’t know if he went or not. I’m trying. I’m not trying to judge Jesus. I’m just saying that would be a great bonding agent to bring that stuff together to make some good clay back to the story. So your Bin and all you do is here in his mind. He says, okay, here we go. Let me have it. Okay, thank you. Here’s another one going to remind me of my shame.
Here it comes again. I’ve heard that seven times today already. Go ahead and hit this side. Okay. Watch this side off. But he heard the sound. He doesn’t know what’s going on and all of a sudden he feels something on his eyes. Whoa, whoa. And it doesn’t say Jesus said anything, but I’ll send. He says, oh, Mt. Carmel Church and he just puts something on his eyes. He was like, okay, this is weird.
What does that? He just put on my eyes and notice what Jesus told him. This is a big detailed conversation. He just spat the ground and made clay and verse seven, and he said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated, sent go, wash in the pool of siloam sent all Jesus said, Spitz rubs on his eyes and says, go wash in the pool of siloam. The pool of siloam means, sent means to go means outflow. This is the same to give you some perspective. This is the same pool for Jesus. Stood up in John Chapter Seven and said, hey, if anyone’s thirsty, come drink for me. And out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. Talking about the Holy Spirit. John Chapter Seven, 37 through 39 are there. And so you’re saying there’s talking about the Holy Spirit. So when he said go wash in the pool of Salaam, Jesus was saying, I want you to go wash in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I want you to go and allow the Holy Spirit to cause you to see what you can’t see for yourself. It takes me, if we had time, we’d go to first Corinthians chapter two, studying for yourself. How would the I hasn’t seen, ear hasn’t heard, has an energy to the heart of the man, the things that God has prepared for them, but he has revealed them to us through his spirit. What’s going to open our eyes that we can see the things God wants to see? It’s the Holy Spirit. That’s what you’re saying. Go Washington pool of Siloam. So he says, go wash them, pull of Salone, and that’s all he says. If I’m been, I’m sitting there and got weird stuff on my eyes and all I hear, I don’t even know who this guy is. Go Wash in the pool of salon. I’d be like. And, and then what?
He didn’t tell him. Go Wash in the pool of Siloam and you will be able to see. Say that all he said was go wash in the pool of siloam. He sent him in his same condition not knowing what would happen when he obeyed what Jesus told him to do. Come on, you gotta. Catch this with me. Will we be able to go wash when Jesus tells us to go wash and we don’t know what’s going to happen the whole time he gets up to find the pool of some can. Some a direct me towards the pool of Siloam, please. I got to go wash this junk off my face. The whole time he’s going, he’s still blind. We want to be healed before we go wash. We want to know we’re going to be here. Before we go was when he says to you, I want you to go and I want you to apologize to that person
and Mt. Carmel Church
Mt. Carmel Church we got to be able to follow Jesus’ instructions when all we have is go wash. Oh, we’ve got to go wash. We don’t have, hey, go wash and here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to go Washington this pool and when he wasn’t off your eyes, you’re going to be able to see so hurry up. Go do it. He didn’t say any of that. All he said was go wash. I would want to know the rest of the story. Does anybody else want to know the rest of the story? When God gives you an instruction, you’re like, I need to know what’s going to happen when I do what you do tell me to do. But that’s not walking by faith, walking by sight. So the whole time he’s got to feel like an idiot. I’m going towards this pool. I’ve got this junk on my eyes.
I don’t want it is and I don’t even know what’s going to happen. I’ve been in that pool before. I know what the pool is, what’s going to be the big deal about me washing it off my face? So he goes and look what happens. At the end of that same verse he says, so he went and washed and came back. See he went and washed and came back saying, notice he came back seeing he didn’t go. See sometimes when we go to obey what God tells us to do world and going to see the results of it after we do what he told us to do. How many’s ever done something? You didn’t see what God was trying to do on the front end, but on the back end, hindsight is 20 slash 20. All of a sudden to reject. Oh my. Tell you what. I knew it all the time.
I knew God was going to come. You didn’t have any idea what he’s going to do, you know, but now at the end you’re like, I didn’t know it was God. You know, we got some great stories in our lives sometimes because we can’t see on the front what God’s doing, but if we will obey God. Has anybody ever walked more than a day with God and you had to do something? You didn’t know what the benefit was going to do, but after you did it, all of a sudden you saw God moving. He revealed that he was working all the time. You came back seeing even though you went blind, we’ve got a gold blind by faith and obeying God and so we can come back seeing the glory of God. On the other end of it, we had a video testimony ruins show you today, have an individual in our church, our body, our family who did that very same thing. She went into something a little bit blind and not knowing how it was going to turn out, but at the end of the story, she sees a whole different picture.
And made it possible. Notice how she started out thinking that why? What have I done? What’s my fault? Looking for the cause. And God said, it’s not about the cause, it’s about the opportunity for me to show myself strong in your life. And that may be the same for you. It’s what he was trying to do for being. As we finish up being story, he came back seeing therefore his neighbors and those who had previously had seen who seen that he was blind. He said, this is not this. He who set and begged some, said, this is the other said he’s like him. He said, I am he therefore, they said to him, well, how are your eyes open? They didn’t even recognize him. His life had so much had changed. He was blind, but now he could see. They said, well, he looks like him.
Yeah, he looked a similar. There’s a resemblance there, but it can’t be him because this can see, and Ben’s blind, Vince always been blind and been will always be blind. Have you ever ran into anybody who has told you in your story that you’ve always been this way and you’ll always be this way? I’m telling you, one encounter with Jesus and he can change your whole story. Don’t let somebody label you that. This is the way you’ve always been and this is the way you always will be, not when you come into contact with Jesus, one encounter with him and he can begin to change where you can see things you never saw. They said, how are your eyes open? Merce he answered, said a man called Jesus made clay hucked to, and I’m sorry I did. That’s not in the Bible. Anointed my eyes and said to me, go to the pool of Siloam and wash.
So I went and washed and received sight. Jot this down, you need to know this for our journey with God. Here’s one of the things that we do. We fail to realize sometimes in our life in verse 11, notice the Progression for how he received. He went and washed and he received his sight. He did what he could do and trusted God to do what he could not do. I went and washed and I received. We want to receive. Before we go and wash, I went. I watched. I received my side. So now that they said, where is he? Verse Thirteen, they brought him to the Pharisees because it. Verse 14, it was the sabbath. When Jesus made the clay, Jesus had the audacity to actually heal this guy on the sabbath. That was a big no, no. You don’t do healings on the sabbath because it’s like work that a couple of laws that Jesus broke this kind of weird is flaky, but Jesus broke a couple of laws when he healed.
Number one, he made. When he made the clay, clay was used to build things and so the Pharisees says, because you’re using a building agent on the sabbath, you’re breaking the sabbath, and then the other thing, they actually. Jews actually believe that spittle was used for medicinal purposes to help diseased eyes always wondered why they spit in the eyes because there’s another place that he actually spit directly on the guy’s eyes. Not made the mud, but just spit on him. That would have been awesome, you know? Anyway, I won’t recreate it for you, but I want to. But anyway, so they actually believe that spit was medicinal for eyes and they were not allowed to use medicine on the Sabbath. So because he spit on the sabbath that was using medicine. So these guys were really, really encouraged and wanting to help people a lot. So look at verse 16. Therefore some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath. Other said, how can a man who’s a sinner do such things? So there was a division among them. They got caught up on how something was done instead of what was done.
Have you ever had trouble receiving something from God because you had trouble receiving how he wanted to do it for you or who he wanted to do it through
Cba with me that God wanted to do something in your life and you wanted to tell him how he needed to do it for you. Oh God, here’s how I want you to do it right here. Sometimes he wants to do something in your life and it’s going to be outside of your boundaries of what you want them to do or how you want him to do it, and that’s what they got hung up on. So they said to the blind man again, what did you say about him? Because what do you say about it? Because he opened your eyes. He said he’s a prophet and the Jews didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been born blind. They were convinced we couldn’t have been born blind. He couldn’t until they called his parents called Mama and daddy and who had received his sight and they asked him saying, is this your son whom you say was born blind?
How then does he now see switch brings mom and dad and say, Hey, is this your boy? And was he born blind? So here’s their answer, and they said to him, his parents answered them and said, we know that this is our son and we know that he was born blind, but by what means he now sees we do not know or who opened his eyes. We do not know. He is of age. Ask Him, he will speak for himself. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was Christ, he will be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said he is of age. Ask Him.
There were three degrees of being put out of the synagogue. Number one, the minor infraction was you get kicked out for seven days. Number two of a little bigger deal. Then you get kicked out for 30 days. But the third one, the most severe is called cursed or death is if they excommunicated from the church, from the synagogue, then you were permanently removed. Indefinite amount of time. You could not come back to church and not only that, but you are to be considered dead to people. No one could talk to you, no one can buy anything from you and no one could. You cannot sell anything to anyone. You are considered as dead to the community. And this is what they said. Whoever says that, Jesus is the Messiah. You get the third degree, burn your out socially church. You’re out. Nobody’s going to talk to you, nobody’s going to eat with you, nobody’s going to buy anything from you and nobody’s going to sell you anything.
So they’d already said, whoever says that, so this is why his own parents, Ben’s own parents rolled over on him. His old parents sold him out. Why? Because they were afraid that they would be isolated. How would you like to have your own parents? You had this wonderful miracle. You were born blind your whole life and now you can see and now your parents, instead of standing beside you and supporting you, turn away and leave you hanging high and dry. This has been story. We want to just stop. Hey, you got to see what story isn’t over. Just because he got to see Bible doesn’t say what happened to Ben’s life. It doesn’t say how he functioned. It doesn’t say how he lived everyday. It doesn’t save it. What he did for a job. He doesn’t say how he aches. All I know is this is everyone treated him as though he were dead. From that day forward, fast forward, jump down to verse 35,
Twenty Five. Sorry, 25. They asked him. They asked him again. He said, give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner. Verse Twenty Five, and he answered and said to this whether Jesus is a sinner or not, I do not know, but one thing I know that though I was blind, now I see. I want to encourage somebody. Don’t let what you don’t know about your circumstance discourage you or disqualify if what you do know. He’s like, they said this guy’s a center soul. He can’t be good. Ben was like, Mt. Carmel Church, I’m not sure about his theology. I’m not sure about his doctrine. I’m not sure if he’s pre trip, post trip. I’m not sure where he stands on water baptism. Not sure where he is on speaking in tongues and all that. I’m not sure about all that. Here’s what I know. I was blind, but now I see
a person with an argument is no match for a person with an experience. You could tell me I shouldn’t live the way I live or you can tell me I shouldn’t believe the way I believe, but once I experienced something, you can give me all your arguments you want, but Jesus changed this boy’s life. I know I was blind and I don’t see everything. I don’t see everything. There’s still areas. God showed me an area yesterday. Yesterday I was blind. God showing the light on it recently shone the light on it just because he wanted to show me the way out. He doesn’t shine the light. Just seeing there. There you are there.
He shines the light so I could see clearly as he walks me out of it and shows me a better way to live. Mt. Carmel Church when the light comes, you can see, so Jesus finds him. Verse Thirty Five, he’d been kicked out of the church. He’s been excommunicated from the community and Jesus finds him in verse 35 and he said to him, do you believe in the son of God? Been answered and said, who is he that I may believe in him? And Jesus said, you have both seen him and it is he who is talking with you did he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.
Been. Remember when Jesus told him to go wash, he couldn’t sing. Mt. Carmel Church He didn’t recognize Jesus when he saw her. He had never seen him before. All he had heard is never seen his face. When he stands before Jesus, Jesus says, you believe in the son of God begins life had been so touched. He said, where is he all worshiping or wherever I want to believe in him. He said, I’m the one who healed you. I’m the one that you need to put your faith in. He believed in it. Begin to worship him and notice what Jesus said for judgment. I’ve come into this world that those who do not see me and that those who see maybe made blind. Here’s what God wants to speak to our hearts today. Every single one of us watching online or here in the auditorium, we are blind in areas of our life.
We don’t like it. We don’t want to be, but there’s things you don’t see about yourself that you need to see. There’s things that are holding you back that God wants to shine the light on today so that you can walk out freely. There’s areas of our life that we just don’t see clearly because of issues because of something that’s happened and I believe right now, God wants to show us all where we’re blind because he says, I’ve come for those that are blind, that they may see that they will be able to open their eyes and see their life from a different perspective.
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