Who Is Blind?

I'd like to welcome everyone to Bridge Gospel this morning.
I'm glad that you're here.
I'd especially like to welcome anyone who's a first-time guest.
We have a little gift for you out in the lobby after service we'd like to share.
And I'd also like to welcome everyone who's visiting online, traveling,
checking out the church online.
I'm just glad that you're watching with us,
and I believe that God will bless you right where you are.
Amen.
So we're not going to pass a plate or a bucket or put anybody on the spot.
If you'd like to give, there's a box in the back where you can give online.
If you write a check, just make that out to Two Rivers Church.
They're the ones that helped us plant this church out here in Apache Junction.
So I will pray for the offering.
So dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that every good and every perfect gift comes from you.
And Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to worship you through giving.
And we know that it may leave our hands, but it never leaves our life.
So we thank you for the opportunity to sow a seed
and to see the gospel advance in Apache Junction and around the world.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So we're going to be in John chapter 9, if you'd like to turn in your Bibles with me there.
John chapter 9.
This is an interesting story.
There's some questions that, you know, the more you look at the question,
the harder it gets to answer.
And, you know, John chapter 9 opens up kind of with this question,
and it doesn't really seem that complicated or that difficult.
Well, Jesus and his disciples are walking along,
and they see this man that has been blind since birth.
I'll read the first part of our story here.
It says,
Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.
His disciples asked him,
Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind?
This man or his parents?
Jesus answered,
Neither this man nor his parents sinned,
but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.
We must perform the deeds of the one who sent me as long as it is daytime.
Night is coming when no one can work.
As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world.
Having said this,
he spat on the ground and made some mud with saliva,
and he smeared them on the blind man's eyes
and said to him,
Go wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is translated scent.
So the blind man went away and washed and came back seeing.
Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously as a beggar begin saying,
Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?
Some people said,
This is the man.
Well, others said,
No, but he looks like him.
The man kept insisting,
I am the one.
So they asked him,
How then were you made to see?
He replied,
The man called Jesus made mud,
smeared it on my eyes,
and told me,
Go to Siloam and wash.
So I went and washed and was able to see.
They said to him,
Where is that man?
He replied,
I don't know.
So our question is,
Who is blind?
And I think at this point in this story,
it's this guy.
You know,
he's never seen his parents' face.
He's never seen the sunrise.
He's never seen the city that he lives in.
He's blind.
And the disciples in verse 2,
they ask Jesus,
Who sinned?
Was it him?
Or was it his parents that caused him to be born blind?
And if you listen carefully to their question,
they're not asking,
Did someone sin?
They're asking,
Who sinned?
This man?
Or his parents?
And they've already kind of decided,
you know,
that Jesus is going to answer their question inside their category.
Right?
You know,
Come on,
Come on,
Jesus.
Who is it?
Was it him?
Was it his parents?
And we can see what happened.
And if we can see what happened,
well,
then maybe we can figure out why it happened.
You see,
isn't it how something goes wrong
and we kind of start looking around for an explanation?
You know,
when someone gets sick,
or we get sick and we wonder why.
Or maybe we're having a challenge in our marriage,
in our family,
and we wonder why.
Or we lose our job and we wonder why.
Or our kids are struggling and we wonder why.
Or the thing that we set our hands to
and we thought,
well,
God was in it and it's not going so well.
Why?
Or our prayer didn't get answered and we wonder why.
And then,
so a lot of times,
we don't stop with why.
We start filling in the blank of why.
Well,
maybe there's,
maybe there's some sin in my life.
Or maybe I didn't have enough faith.
Or maybe I didn't pray enough.
Or maybe I didn't do this enough.
Or maybe I'm not,
you know,
seeking God enough.
And maybe this is spiritual warfare.
And maybe it's a demon.
And maybe it's the devil.
Maybe he lives in my refrigerator.
Maybe God's trying to teach me something.
I don't know.
Right?
And our speculation is not the problem.
You know,
we're allowed to ask questions.
We're allowed to wonder.
We're allowed to say,
well,
maybe God is trying to correct me in my life.
You know,
we're allowed to examine ourselves.
We should examine ourselves.
Right?
But there's enormous difference between wondering,
what could this be?
And God told me why.
Because,
you know,
I can know something that's true about God.
And I can know something that's true about you
or true about me.
And manufacture this connection between the two.
You see it?
God disciplines his children.
True.
You have this problem.
Also true.
Therefore,
your problems must be God's discipline
because of some particular thing in your life.
Where'd that come from?
And Jesus answers them in verse 3.
He says,
it's not him.
It's not his parents.
That's not the explanation.
He refuses to respond to this verdict
that they have built into their question.
And he turns their attention somewhere else.
Not towards some hidden thing
or some spiritual attack,
but towards the works of God.
And he says that the work of God
is going to be revealed through him.
Now,
I want to be careful.
You know,
Jesus isn't going to tell us,
you know,
everything that's going to happen in our lives
and why.
He's telling us
what is going to happen
in this man's life.
And that doesn't give us permission
to look at everything
and say,
well,
I know why God did this,
but I can tell you
what does happen
is that the work of God
is revealed in him.
And Jesus heals him.
His sight returns
and for the first time in his life,
he can see.
And you would think,
well,
that's the end of the story.
You're like,
blind man,
Jesus shows up,
he does his miracle thing,
everybody goes home happy,
praise God,
church is over.
But the man starts seeing
and it seems that everyone else
starts having trouble seeing.
the neighbors see him.
Wait,
isn't that the guy,
the blind guy?
You know,
the guy that sat over there
and he used to beg,
shook the cup?
Some say,
no,
that is him.
And others say,
no,
it looks like him.
And the man is standing there,
right there,
he's saying,
it's me.
You see,
and the strange thing about it
is,
you know,
everybody recognized him
when he was blind.
That's the blind guy.
That's the guy who sits
and begs.
But now that he can see,
wait a minute,
is that him?
Looks like him.
No,
it can't be him.
And he's standing right there
telling them,
it is.
They knew his blindness
better than they knew the man.
You see it?
And as long as he fit this category
that everyone had for him,
they could figure out
who he was.
And now they're not so sure.
So they ask,
what happened?
And he says,
a man named Jesus
made mud,
put it on my eyes,
told me to wash.
I washed,
now I see.
And they ask him,
where is he?
And the man says,
well,
I don't know.
Verse 13.
They brought the man
who used to be blind
to the Pharisees.
Now the day on which
Jesus made the mud
and caused him to see
was a Sabbath.
So the Pharisees asked him again
how he gained his sight.
He replied,
he put mud on my eyes
and I washed
and now I'm able to see.
Then some of the Pharisees
began to say,
see how the story's escalating,
this man is not from God
because he does not
observe the Sabbath.
But others said,
how can a man
who is a sinner
perform such miraculous signs?
Thus there was division
among them.
Now when we see that word
sinner in the New Testament,
a lot of times
it's talking about
someone who is not
following God
or not part of the covenant.
Not someone that
told a lie
or did something once
but is identified
with the covenant.
Okay?
So you're talking about
someone who literally
does not follow God.
Where were we?
17.
Thank you.
So again,
they asked the man
who used to be blind,
what do you say about him
since he caused you to see?
Well, he's a prophet,
the man replied.
Uh-oh.
Now the Jewish leaders
refused to believe
that he had already,
he had really been born blind
and had gained his sight
until he at last
summoned the parents
of the man
who had been able
to come see.
They asked the parents,
is this your son
whom you say?
I underline those words,
you say was born blind.
Then how does he now see?
So his parents replied,
we know that this is our son
and that he was born blind.
Okay?
But we do not know
how he is able to see.
Nor do we know
who caused him to see.
Ask him.
He's a mature adult.
He'll speak for himself.
His parents said these things
because they were afraid
of the Jewish religious leaders.
For the Jewish leaders
had already agreed
that anyone who confessed
Jesus to be the Christ
would be put out
of the synagogue.
For this reason,
his parents said,
he is a mature adult.
Ask him.
Then they summoned the man
who used to be blind
a second time
and said to him,
promise before God
to tell the truth.
Huh.
We know that this man
is a sinner.
He replied,
I do not know
whether he is a sinner.
I do know one thing
that although I was blind,
now I can see.
Then they said to him,
what did he do to you?
How did he cause you to see?
He answered,
I told you already
and you didn't listen.
Why do you want
to hear it again?
You people don't want
to become his disciples too,
do you?
They heaped insults on him
saying,
you are his disciple.
We are disciples of Moses.
We know that God
has spoken to Moses.
We do not know
where this man comes from.
The man replied,
well this is a remarkable thing
that you don't know
where he comes from
and yet he causes me to see.
We know that God
doesn't listen to sinners
but anyone is devout
and does his will,
God listens to him.
Never before has anyone
heard of someone
causing a man born blind
to see.
If this man were not from God,
he could do nothing.
They replied,
you were born completely
in sinfulness
and yet you presumed
to teach us?
So they threw him out.
Now remember,
one of the first things
that this man said
as soon as he got
his sight back
was,
I don't know.
Remember that,
the whole story.
I don't know.
He doesn't know
where Jesus is.
He doesn't know much
about Jesus yet.
At this point,
he's like,
well there's this man
called Jesus.
That's what he knows.
He told me to wash.
I went.
I was blind.
I see.
Where is he?
I don't know.
So they bring him
into the Pharisees.
And they don't think
that Jesus could be
from God.
Some of them
aren't so sure.
How could a sinner
do this?
So there's this
disagreement.
They investigate.
They call the parents.
Was this your son?
Was he born blind?
How can he see?
You know,
and then mom and dad
are there.
We know this is our son.
We know he was born blind.
But how he sees,
we don't know.
Who opened his eyes?
We don't know.
Ask him.
He's old enough.
And what's interesting
is the parents
weren't there
when it happened.
They had to bring them in.
Do they know
how it happened?
They know what they know.
They don't claim
to know what they don't know.
But John tells us
there's something else
going on.
They're afraid.
And they know
what confessing Jesus
as a Messiah
could cost them.
They could be put
out of the synagogue.
Now, we don't know
what they think
about Jesus.
Maybe they think
he is the Messiah.
We just don't know.
But they know
where this could go.
You see,
you can't be afraid
of an answer
of where it might lead
unless you know
where it might lead.
And publicly identifying
with Jesus
could cost you
your standing
in society,
in the religious society,
in social community.
It would affect
your family.
It would affect
your reputation.
It would affect
your honor
in the community.
Maybe it would affect
your business.
Maybe it would affect
your job.
So when they asked
who opened his eyes,
they said,
we don't know.
Ask him.
So they call the man back.
And now listen
to how the language
in the whole story
starts to shift.
If you read real close,
it says,
they're talking about Jesus.
First they were wondering,
right?
Now they say,
we know
that this man is a sinner.
You see earlier
there was some disagreement,
some questions.
Well, now we know.
They've reached their verdict.
And the healed man says,
well, I don't know
whether he's a sinner or not,
but one thing I do know
is that I was blind
and now I see.
There it is.
I don't know.
He doesn't claim to know
what he doesn't know,
and he will not surrender
what he does know.
It's ironic
how the people
who claim to know
the most
start becoming
more and more
certain about
what they know.
And the man
who actually
knows something
and keeps saying,
I doesn't know,
starts to see more
and more and more.
You see,
there's two kinds
of knowing
that are kind of
colliding here.
There's all kinds
of things you could know
about Jesus,
about who he is.
But then there's
this guy,
he says,
well, I couldn't see
and now I can.
And they keep
interrogating him.
What did he do?
How did he open
your eyes?
And eventually,
the beggar
turns it on them
and he starts
asking the questions.
Well, why do you
want to hear it again?
You don't want
to follow him,
do you?
Whew.
That went over well.
Look at this guy.
They brought him
in here,
they're asking him
these questions,
now he's asking
the questions.
Now he's spent
his whole life
as a beggar.
I mean,
his own parents
didn't even want
to come in there
and stand up for him.
And apparently,
you know,
nobody told him
how intimidated
he should be.
You see that?
Now I can't tell you
what's going on
in his head.
You know,
John doesn't tell us
but I can tell you
what John shows us
is they question him
and he answers.
They question him again
and he answers.
They insult him
and he answers.
They pull rank.
They call on Moses
and now you know
it's getting serious.
We know God spoke
to Moses.
I mean,
that's their homeboy.
And this guy,
he says,
well,
this is remarkable
that you can't
figure this out.
And the man says
to the Pharisees,
we know God
doesn't listen
to sinners.
What are we going
to do about that?
He starts teaching them.
And after watching
this guy,
I mean,
look at him.
He spent his whole life
being outside
of acceptance,
begging,
blind,
and Jesus opens
his eyes
and suddenly
everyone is coming
to him demanding
some kind of
explanation.
the neighbors,
the authorities,
the parents
get dragged into it
and they're afraid
of going and talking
about what happened
to their own son.
And this dangerous
question gets handed
right back to him.
Well,
go ask him.
Here's what I love
about this guy.
The guy does not fold.
I mean,
his own parents did.
Now,
I don't know everything
about him either,
but where they see
this blind sinner,
I see someone
who is a survivor.
I see someone
who is a fighter.
I see someone
who is a warrior
and I don't know
everything about this man,
but I can already see
that their category
for him is way
too small.
They see blind.
They see beggar.
They see sinner.
But Jesus,
Jesus sees the man.
You see,
look at what they see.
You were born entirely
in sin
and now you're trying
to teach us.
Look how far
they've gone.
We can see your condition.
We know what caused it.
Therefore,
we know your spiritual situation.
Therefore,
we know where you stand
with God.
And then we get to decide
where you stand
among God's people.
And they threw him out.
He's been blind
his whole life.
And the God of heaven
saw this man.
They saw his pain,
his shame,
the rejection
that he lived in.
And Jesus gave him sight.
And the people
who said
that they knew God,
that they knew God,
look at him
and say that you were born
entirely in sin
and threw him out.
They're completely wrong
about what his condition
proves.
It doesn't mean
he doesn't need a savior.
He does.
I do.
You do.
But the problem is
they think that they can see
where he stands
before God.
They think that he gets to,
they get to decide
where he belongs.
And it seems that
they can see everybody
except themselves.
So the question is
who
is blind?
Verse 35,
it starts to get really good.
Jesus heard
that they had thrown him out.
So he found the man
and said to him,
do you believe
in the son of man?
And the man replied,
and who is he, sir,
that I may believe in him?
Jesus told him,
you have seen him.
He is the one
speaking with you.
He said,
Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped him.
And Jesus said,
for judgment
I have come into this world
so that those
who do not see
may gain their sight
and the ones who see
may become blind.
Some of the Pharisees
who were with him
heard this and asked him,
we are not blind too,
are we?
Jesus replied,
if you were blind,
you would not be guilty of sin.
But now,
because you claim
that you can see,
your guilt remains.
So Jesus went
and found this guy.
The very guy
that they threw out
and cast aside,
Jesus goes and finds him.
And it's ironic
that, you know,
the Pharisees
that thought
that they could see
where this man
stood before God,
you know,
all of a sudden
God is standing
in front of the man
that they threw out.
And I think
if you or I
try to determine,
you know,
where this man
stands with God
by looking at
what's going on
in his life
and his circumstances,
I think we get
a different answer
every five minutes.
Well, his eyes open.
Well, God must be with him.
Oh, he's in trouble
with the Pharisees.
Well, God must not
be with him.
Oh, he's speaking boldly.
God must be with him.
Oh, his parents
won't even stand up.
He must be a troubled kid.
Don't they have
like a D.A.R.E. program
for that?
And they throw him
out of the synagogue.
Well, clearly
he missed God, right?
But we'd be reading
the wrong thing.
You know,
our opinions
that people have
about us,
our circumstances,
they're always going
to be a mixed bag.
You know,
people are crazy.
And, you know,
when I found Jesus,
you know,
some things in my life
got better.
Some things in my life
got harder.
And some things
just got darn weird.
I mean, look at this.
And, you know,
what Jesus did
in this man's life,
it didn't produce
this nice little graph,
you know,
where everything just
kind of kept getting
better and better
and you're right off
into the sunset
with Jesus.
You know,
how many of you know
that living and walking
with God
is not a straight line?
Right?
It is a mixed bag.
And the mixed bag
does not prove
where this man
stands with God.
You see,
Jesus opened his eyes
and all of a sudden
his life is incredibly
complicated.
You ever been following
God and things
got complicated?
You know,
people misunderstood you.
People judged you.
People brought their agenda.
People criticized.
And maybe they even
measured your faithfulness
by everything that was
going wrong in your life.
And nobody could figure it out
and maybe it made them
just a little uncomfortable.
And when everybody else
is finished deciding
what kind of man he is
and deciding that he is
of no use
and of no value
to anyone
in their system
of thee
and thou
and shalt
and shalt not,
Jesus finds him.
You see,
Jesus is faithful
through it all.
Through the ups,
through the downs,
through the mixed bag,
through the criticism,
through being misunderstood,
he's faithful
through it all.
And I think
our story today
is warning us
not to make
the mistake
of thinking
that the ups
and downs
tell us
God's verdict
for ourselves
or for anyone else.
And maybe you've
been that person
like our blind beggar
and someone looked
at what happened
to you
and they turned it
into a whole verdict
about who you are.
Maybe they saw
your failure.
Maybe they saw
your divorce.
Maybe they saw
your addiction.
Maybe they saw
that your kids
turned out a little bit funny.
Maybe they saw
your illness
or your finances
or your thing
not work out
and they saw
this one aspect
in this one chapter
of your life
and they decided
that they could
read the whole book.
And maybe somebody
who knew a lot
about God
told you exactly
what they thought
that God thought
about you
and maybe you
started to believe them
and start to think
well if this is
happening to me
maybe this tells me
what God thinks
about me.
Maybe my suffering
is the verdict.
Maybe my failure
is the verdict.
Maybe my rejection
is the verdict
but look at our story.
The people
who were absolutely
certain that they
knew God
and knew what he
was thinking
threw him out
and Jesus
found him.
And Jesus
asked him
if he believes
in the Son of Man
and the man says
who is he
so I may believe?
And listen
to Jesus' answer.
In a chapter
about this blind man
Jesus says
you have seen him.
you have seen him
you have seen him
and the man
who begins
unable to see
sees
Jesus
and in verse 38
he says
Lord I
believe
and he worships him
and the work of God
was revealed
in this man
just like Jesus said
and he can see
but it's bigger
than just his eyes now
he sees
Jesus.
So isn't this great?
We have a miracle story
about a blind man
you know
he's got his sight back
and you know
well God bless you
it's time to go home.
But John doesn't
end there
because we still haven't
we still haven't
answered this question
of well who is blind?
Verse 39
it says
Jesus
Jesus has all this talk
about sight
and blindness
about the blind seeing
and those who think
they see
will become blind
and some of the Pharisees
hear him
and they think
well surely we aren't blind
are we?
Uh oh
there it is
and after this whole chapter
of them
oh we know
we know
we know
and now we see
and Jesus goes
straight after it
and he says
if you were blind
you would not be guilty
of sin
and now you say
we'll see
and your sin remains
so at the beginning
of the story
I think the question
was easy
who's blind?
Well that guy
at the end of John 9
who's blind?
And the whole time
I'm studying this passage
this week
I'm just imagining
Jesus kind of walking around
with his shirt on
that says
hold on
let me make this awkward
he's just walking around
hold on
let me make this awkward
the man who knew
he couldn't see
sees Jesus
the people are absolutely
convinced that they can see
cannot recognize him
when he's standing
right in front of him
so maybe the dangerous
sentence isn't saying
well I don't know
maybe the dangerous
thing to say
is I do know
you know
I know why God
let this happen
I know what God
is doing
I know what this
suffering really means
I know why your prayer
hasn't been answered
I know why your family
is struggling
I know why your thing
isn't working out
or I know what God
thinks about you
well how do you know?
Did God say it?
did you fill in the blank?
Because there are things
that God tells us
that he reveals to us
and when scripture
you know
calls something sin
that's what it is
when scripture calls us
to repent
we should repent
when someone is walking
into destruction
we can love them enough
to tell them the truth
you see I'm not saying
that you know
we can never know anything
and I'm not saying
that sin doesn't have
consequences
and I'm not saying
never confront
or never talk to anybody
about what's happening
in their life
but we have to be careful
not to claim to see
what isn't true
and if you do believe
that God has shown you
something
you should handle it
very very carefully
because you could be wrong
maybe you don't see
the whole picture
maybe it's better
to ask some questions
and just kind of
hold back on the
judgment side of things
and I think the greatest
lesson of the story
is you know
if you are right
you know being right
doesn't excuse you
from loving this person
the greater question
is what do I do
you know
because sometimes
explaining everything
is easier
than just helping
you see
if I can explain
the suffering
I can stand over here
and I can explain it
and maybe that can hurt
more than it helps
maybe I have to come
and sit with you
and talk with you
maybe I have to listen
to you
or pray with you
or help you
with your problem
or maybe I have to go
to a doctor's appointment
with you
or maybe I have to face
something in myself
my own weakness
my own sin
and maybe I have to admit
I don't know
you see
nobody has this problem
with their car
and thinks
well I wonder
if this is because
of my sin
no
you ask someone
who knows
what they're doing
right
and you don't want
them jumping
to conclusions
because then you end up
you know
paying to fix
all this stuff
that wasn't wrong
you know
so they go in
they open the hood
they look
they listen
they hook up
the computer
they gather
some evidence
and then
and then they tell
you what's wrong
and then they fix it
and then they take
all your money
but you don't have
to know
why something
happened
to ask
what you can do
now
you know
I don't know
why you lost
your job
but I can help
you find another one
I don't know
why your marriage
is hurting
but I can help
you maybe figure
it out
I don't know
why you're grieving
but I can sit
and I can weep
with you
and I can grieve
with you
and I don't have
to explain
your suffering
to love you
while you're in it
because in a lot
of cases
you know
knowing can hinder
our ability
to love
you know
it's easy to say
well you struggle
with sin
you know
you grew up funny
well that's on you
it's easy to say that
and maybe we
spend our time
trying to explain
everything
that we don't notice
the person
that's suffering
if you go back
to the beginning
you know
there is a blind man
sitting here
and he's a beggar
and the disciples
have this
this grand
theological question
who sinned
well guys
there's
there's
there's
there's a
a blind man
begging
right there
a man made
in the image
of God
a neighbor
that we can love
a neighbor
that we can serve
and while everybody
is discussing
the poor guy
you know
Jesus goes
and does something
and it was
through his actions
that the work
of God
was revealed
in him
so I want to
give three
three questions
three invitations
this morning
first is
you know
maybe
maybe somebody
has looked at your life
and they've rendered
some kind of a verdict
and maybe you were
labeled
or rejected
or
or cast out
or turned down
for something
and I'll say
that in my own life
I've gone through
seasons where
where I found out
that people knew me
a certain way
they knew me
as this guy
or that guy
and
and you can find
yourself kind of
getting flattened
into one dimension
well
he's the pastor
he's the business guy
or he was successful
at this or that
so he can't know
anything about my pain
are you sure
are you sure
or
maybe
it's
this
this guy
is the screw up
and this is the guy
with this problem
and there's no way
that he could help me
are you sure
see
in Christ
we're all
more than our job
we're more than our degree
we're more than what we know
we're more than our money
we're more than our house
we're more than our success
we're more than our failure
and inside of every one of you
are talents
opinions
dreams
fears
and incredibly
complicated
human history
things that
that
I probably know nothing about
and maybe one of the first
ways
we become blind to somebody
is
when we decide
the one thing that we can see
is everything that there is to see
and often that label
comes from something that you did
or didn't do
or didn't understand
or
or maybe something that you never
asked for
in your life
it says that this man was born
blind
he never asked for that
and maybe you've spent years
carrying someone else's
label
or opinion
or diagnosis
about you
and I can't stand here
this morning
and tell you the secret reason
why everything happened
I don't know
I don't know
and maybe it can't be known
and I'm not going to fill in that blank
and put God's name on it
but I can show you Jesus
you see
he's the one who went
and found the guy
when everybody else
threw him out
so don't confuse
someone else's
verdict about your life
with Jesus
number two
maybe you've looked at
your own circumstances
or maybe someone else's
circumstances
around you
and you decided
that you could somehow
see behind them
and maybe you took something
that was true about God
and combined it
with something that
was painful in your life
or someone else's life
and kind of made a connection
and tried to explain it all
maybe God did speak about it
but be gentle
and maybe you were so busy
trying to explain yourself
or fix yourself
or fix them
that you know
you didn't serve
well what can I do now
that's the question
how can I pray
how can I serve
how can I help
how can I love
this person
how can I return back to God
after confusing him
with my circumstances
and how can I see
God's character rightly
and third
maybe you've never known
this Jesus
and maybe you've had
your own questions
or doubts
maybe there's things
that happened in your life
that you can't explain
and you've spent years
asking why
why would God
let this happen
why would God
let this person die
why would God
let this person cheat on me
why would God
allow that
why wasn't my prayer answered
why didn't God
stop them
and I'm not going to
promise you
that following Jesus
was going to give you
an explanation
or an answer
but look at this man
Jesus gave him
something he never
imagined having
he can see
and refusing to deny
what Jesus had done
for him
cost him something
his own parents
understood the possibility
that's why they were afraid
there was a cost
attached
to being identified
with Jesus
and what's sad
is before the chapter
is over
it's their own son
who pays for it
you see that
and the more
that this man
refuses to deny
what Jesus had done
in his life
the more complicated
his circumstances
become
so don't hear
you know
this follow Jesus
and everything gets
better thing
I can't promise that
it might happen
it might not
but you can't say
either that if life
gets hard
you must have
missed God
see they threw
the man out
and his eyes
were opened
and he moved
toward Jesus
so his difficulty
was not proof
that he had gone
in the wrong direction
and your difficulty
may not be proof
that you're going
in the wrong direction
either
Jesus found the man
and he said
who is the son of man
so that I may believe
and Jesus said
you have seen him
look how far
this man has come
standing in front
of all these people
who claim Jesus
can't be God
he's a sinner
he was born a sinner
he was born in sin
and this man
is saying
if this man
were not from God
he could do nothing
see he didn't know
everything at the beginning
he admitted that
he said I don't know
it was the first thing
that came out of his mouth
after he got his eyesight back
I don't know
but as Jesus
showed him
more and more
he saw more and more
until the man
who began the chapter
unable to see
is the one
who can see
Jesus
and maybe we don't
get every why today
but you can know
the who
you can know Jesus
you can know the one
who sees you
the one who finds you
when they throw you out
the one who opens
blind eyes
the one that this man
saw and believed
so maybe the question
isn't whether you have
all the answers
maybe the question
is whether that you know
that you need sight
because the man
who knew
he was blind
saw Jesus
and the people
who said we know
and we can see
could not see him
at all
so dear heavenly father
we thank you
for the ways
that you operate
in our lives
we thank you
for the way
that you bring purpose
to the struggle
in our lives
and lord
sometimes we just
have to admit
that we don't know
but lord
we trust you
and we place our faith
in you
and lord
we ask you
to open our eyes
we ask you
to open our eyes
to everything
that you are doing
in our lives
good
the bad
the ugly
things that have
happened to us
and lord
I pray that you
can give those things
purpose
maybe not an explanation
but purpose
and lord
we thank you
that you have the power
to restore eyesight
you have the power
to heal
our mortal bodies
you have the power
to turn situations
around lord
and we come to you
and we confess
that we don't know
but we want to know you
and we want to see you
and we want to love you
and walk with you
lord
so I thank you
for each and every person
that was here this morning
I pray that you can bless them
with light
with insight
with eyesight
in their lives
that you can reveal
yourself to them
fully
and clearly
and lord
we thank you
that we can walk
with you
even when we
don't have answers
we can place
our faith
and trust
in you
who is always
faithful
and all God's people
said
amen