Wednesday in the Word...John 9:24-34...One more picture of the men's outing too!

I had to give one more shot for perspective of the rugged coast line of DownEast Maine.  There is probably this much or more to the ocean below.  

I have also attached below the sermon given at Machias Valley Baptist Church on Sunday, July 7th, 2019.  We are covering Luke 16:14-18.

Today's Wednesday in the Word is John chapter 9 and verses 24 through 34.  We continue on with the event of the man who was once blind but now can see because of the healing granted by Jesus.  We left off with his parents given confirmation that he was truly their son born blind but they would not say how it happened.  At this point the man once blind stands all alone.

v.24 - So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner."

The once blind man is back before the Pharisees a second time and they want him to change his story.  He is standing all alone because his parents would not go against the church who was throwing out anyone who sided with Jesus.  The Pharisees evaluation that Jesus was a sinner was based on this healing or working happening on the Sabbath.  No good God fearing Jew would ever think of doing such a thing on the Sabbath.  The once blind man first called Jesus a man who touched his eyes but later called Him a prophet, one who is of God.  The Pharisees wanted the once blind man who can now see to renounce this statement.

v.25 - He then answered, "Whether Hs is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

Do you have the words of the hymn "Amazing Grace" going through your head?

"I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see."

A prophet could be a sinner.  Prophets were not perfect.  There was only one prophet that was perfect and that was Jesus Christ, our Prophet, Priest, and King.  The once blind man again speaks what he knows at the time.  He holds onto the simple truth that he once couldn't see but now he can.  The restoration of his sight revolved around his encounter with this man called Jesus who he perceived as a prophet.  Others, even his parents, were abandoning his side as he continued to speak this simple truth.

v.26, 27 - So they said to him, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again?  You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?"

The once blind man shows his hand that if he was able to be one of Jesus' disciples, he would desire to be so.  Probably in sarcasm he throws this comment to the Pharisees' questions.  The answer is going to be the same.  This shows the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.  They were not interested in the truth but rather just more information to discredit what Jesus had done.  

They didn't want to be a disciple of Jesus but rather destroy Jesus.

Are we still searching for more information?  Are we looking for another way to heaven?  Are we using all of our probing questions to stall our obvious need of surrender to the Savior?  We may ask questions not to know Jesus personally or to listen more intently but rather to hold onto our rebellion a little longer.  Our questions expose our motives to keep control of our lives rather than surrendering it over to God.

v.28, 29 - They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from."

It comes back to Jesus' birth.  Who was Jesus' father?  The Pharisees did not know.  It seemed like an illegitimate birth, out of wedlock between Mary and Joseph.  They could not trace back Jesus' family line because His actual physical father wasn't known.  

The Pharisees also tied this once blind man's allegiance to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.  It seems that Jesus is going against the 10 commandments given brought down the mountain by Moses to the people of Israel.  These Pharisees will stand with what they know, Moses and the 10 Commandments, just as the once blind man will stand with what he knows, this man named Jesus who healed his sight.  Are Jesus and the 10 Commandments in contradiction with each other?  We know this is not so but the Pharisees had created a man made structure of extra rules which brought about this tension. 

v.30-33 - The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.  We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.  Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.  If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."

This once blind man has been thinking.  He throws back into the laps of the Pharisees their spiritual responsibility.  Why weren't they investigating who Jesus was?  If Jesus could do these kind of things and He was in their neck of the woods, why weren't they seeking Him out to listen to Him?  The sheer fact of the miracle of healing someone who was born blind would seem to the once blind man to trigger an investigation by his religious leaders.  

Also, someone who is against God, a sinner, is not heard by God to be directed by him, the sinner.  God hears sinners who have become aware that they should be God-fearing and surrendering their will to follow His will.  God hears those who acknowledge that He is God like the thief on the cross asking to be remembered when Jesus, the King, enters His kingdom.  The once blind man ends his mini sermon with the same story that this man named Jesus must be a prophet, someone who is from God.  His last plea paraphrased is, "This Jesus is special because no one has ever done this before.  Why aren't you finding out who He is?"

v.34 - They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?"  So they put him out.

The once blind man got kicked out of the church.  He got kicked out for being an example of what the coming Messiah would do.  

Isaiah 29:18 says,

On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

Isaiah 35:5 says,

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

Isaiah 42:7 says,

To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

There was not an equality before God in the eyes of the Pharisees.  They were definitely better than this once blind man.  But who really is blind in this passage?  Many times we can be blind because we don't seek out not only what Jesus would do but what Jesus did and who Jesus is.  How different the account if the Pharisees would have taken the evidence of the man's story, the parents who verified his existence as their son, the magnitude of what was done, and then tied it to the Scriptures that attribute this type of activity to no one other than the coming Messiah.

Are we truly listening to God by seeking Him out in His Word?  Are we making sure that our answer is Biblically based and not culturally created?  Are we putting our privileges aside and not becoming prejudice so that we see ourselves with others equally in need of the Savior and therefore listening to this once blind man who maybe didn't run in our circles?  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, may we not be the blind ones to what You are doing.  May our eyes be opened by You for our salvation and kept open by us keeping in Your words for Your sanctifying work in us to be ever more Christ like.  May this passage be a testimony to us to keep with the simple message that we once were blind of You but now we can see You because of You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam