I Was Blind, Now I See - Par..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter 9, we'll be reading from verse 24 through 34. So for the 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. He answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?

He answered them, I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you not hear? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to be his disciples? And they reviled him, saying, you are his disciple.

We are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. The man answered, why, this is amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, you were born in utter sin.

And would you teach us? And they cast him out. Amen. This is the word of our Lord. The Lord himself said that heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will never pass away.

Let's come before him in a word of prayer to ask his blessing on telling our time together. Thank you, Lord. We come before you reverently with thankful hearts for the opportunity that you've given us once again, an opportunity that we are not worthy of. an opportunity we don't deserve to sit, Lord, under the preaching of your precious word. But we are thankful.

We ask, Lord, as we are found in this place, you come here, Lord, present in our bodies. It may be that in the next hour, Lord, you will also give us the presence of mind, the presence of heart. Lord, your word will be preached in truth. that your people apprehend that truth, that your spirit will press that truth deep within the inner being, and that Christ will be exalted among us. Uphold me, Lord, I pray, by your grace.

Give me clarity of mind. Give me clear thoughts, clarity of communication. Amen. Only that which corresponds to truth, may that only be spoken of from His book. I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. So we continue our study in the Gospel according to John in the ninth chapter. We've been here a few weeks and the section that we've just read, which would be the portion that we'll be concentrating on this evening, is a section that will continue to look at the Pharisees, the religious heavyweights of the day, those spiritual leaders that were entrusted and sent to go and to do their investigation, or if you might prefer, their interrogations, of how this whole rumor in their mind, miracle, whatever you want to call it, whatever they want to call it, had taken place to investigate the details of what had taken place of this man who was once born blind, who is now claiming to be able to see. This is a massive miracle. I say that every time we're in the ninth chapter.

It is a big deal. This is no small deal. For those who are present, For those who were there and who had come to be familiar with this beggar, who had come to be a staple, a part of the furniture almost there in Jerusalem, sitting on the path there in the streets of Jerusalem, whereby everyone would come and go, where they would remember, that's the beggar who cannot see. He's carried there, and he's brought back, and he cannot see. He needs a handler to take him to and from.

For these people to now recognize that this is the same man who can now see, his eyes have been made open, and he's declared from his own mouth that his eyes have been made open, this is a momentous thing. This is not a small thing. Now, there is no doubt in my mind that in the first century, just like we have now in the 21st century, you had your fair share of charlatans, fair share of fraudsters, fair share of pretenders, those who love the limelight, those who covet people's attention, those who seek the popularity of the people, who would go out into places and act as though they were something that they were not. act as though they have the power to do the supernatural, when indeed they do not. We've seen our fair share of those, have we not, in the 21st century.

But this is different. The miracles of Jesus Christ are different. They're undeniable. They're miracles that one cannot say anything other than the divine hand of God was. It can't be explained any other way.

How can you explain a man being born blind, being blind for decades, now suddenly being able to see? You know, the charlatans, those who come forth and act as if they are something that they are not, they are the ones who will claim to have the ability to do the supernatural. What are they doing? They're performing fates that cannot even be proven. Or you have a headache.

Headache gone. Who's gonna marvel at that? You got back pain? Back pain's gone. Who can attest to that?

Arthritis? Gone. Give me, give me the attention, blow wind under myself. No, these aren't the type of miracles that Jesus was performing. He did heal many people with many various diseases.

And for those with headaches and arthritis and back pains, then Jesus was a balm to their very soul. Jesus went over and beyond. Jesus authenticated his ministry with miracles that could not be explained or interpreted apart from the hand of God being upon him. And that's what's taking place here. And this is why the Pharisees were entrusted to be sent out to do the investigation, because this miracle required attention.

Because if this man is speaking truth, then this Jesus needs to be heard out. the hand of God was upon this Jesus, then Jesus' words, Jesus' claims, Jesus' teaching must be submitted to because God is with him and God is empowering everything he does. So there you go. These Pharisees were sent because this miracle has elicited an amazement by the people and they need questions, answers. And they thought that who else would they send other than the Pharisees.

These are the men who seem to know all. If you had any question, religiously speaking, about the Torah, about the Scripture, then these Pharisees always had the answers to all your questions. They wouldn't even have to open their Bibles like sometimes you'll see me do. No, they were memorizing Scripture and they would be able to go, bang, I can answer that question. If there was any amongst them who knew it all, so to speak, it was the Pharisees.

And they were sent to do the investigation that we know already their attitude towards the Lord. We know, we know that they hated Him. We know that Jesus was an offense to them. We know that they had an agenda in their mind and in their hearts that they already settled to. Last week we saw that in verse 22, did we not?

You remember when they said there in verse 22, the Apostle John tells us that anyone who claims that Jesus is Messiah, anyone who confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Pharisees have already made a decision to kick that person out of the synagogue. There are serious consequences if you remember from last week. And so the Pharisees, they They put this out because they've made their mind, they've settled that Jesus is a fraudster. When he first came, when Jesus first came onto the scene, they had some interest in this Lord. They wanted to hear him out.

I mean, this is something new. Italy looks genuine. Let's just hear him out. So they had a curiosity, you might say. But when he did it, pat him on the back.

When he did it, affirm their work. And every time they tried to come and speak to him, trying to get accolades from him, he gave them them because they were an unrighteous people. And they abused the word of God. They didn't like that. So they went from having a somewhat interest in going to see whether Jesus is Messiah, and if he is, we can go on his good books and he can put us on his right hand and on his left.

But that went from that to now hatred, hostility, and animosity that drove deep into their very soul. And so they began, they thought, okay, let's begin by refuting his teachings. the Pharisees, the Jews, which are the religious leaders in the Gospel according to John. How many times have we seen them go and try to go toe-to-toe with the Lord? They couldn't match Him.

They couldn't match Him in His stature, His wisdom, His knowledge, His grace. He spoke like none other. He taught like none other. No one in Jerusalem had been used to someone who speaks with such authority. And every time the Pharisees, the religious leaders, tried to contest with Jesus, what happened?

They were always going after second best. And they were ashamed. Shame had come upon them and the people could see it. And they didn't like that because Jesus was messing up their whole system. He was a stumbling block.

stumbling block to everything they built, a stumbling block to everything they disestablished. So now they were secure, or at least in their own minds and in their own hearts, they had settled that Jesus is a fraud and that's the end. Now they were looking at the means to achieve the end of eradicating, of extinguishing this Jesus and all his ministry, his teaching, his claims that anyone who would follow after him, and that's the bias they took into these investigations. But as the evidence stood so clearly and undeniably, you remember, some were going, hmm, could it be, could it be that this Jesus is the real deal? Could it be that he is the Messiah after all?

Everything points to this miracle being genuine. Could it be that this Jesus is actually who he claims to be? A riff began and they thought maybe he's not. I'm not joking, just a few of the Pharisees would have thought maybe we need to check our emotions for a while. and concentrate on the facts rather than our own hypocritical agenda.

And so, a bit of a union, a bit of a disunion, a bit of a rift had begun within the sect of the Pharisees, and you remember last week I said that for them to repair that, they could only do it in one of two ways, and that's the objective that they went into these interrogations with. The objective was either to refute the miracle, They can do that, right? Nothing to see here, walked away, whatever it is that they say, that they explain it away, this guy's a fraud or whatever they want to say. If they couldn't do that, then their option number two would be to make sure that Jesus gets no credit for the miracle. to make sure that they tarnish his reputation, that they tarnish his character, to attack his morality, and to call him a sinner.

If they're able to prove, or at least conjure up a story and get some support that this Jesus is a sinner, that he's an unrighteous man, that he's debased, then everyone will know, although this miracle took place and we can't refute it, God does not partner with sinners. And therefore, We can continue on our plan because Jesus is being refuted, and we can go on our merry way to continue to establish that which we've built over so long and enjoy now this cushy life. We have the fear, an umbrella of fear over the people. We have our thumbs on their lives. They don't do anything without our approval, and we love it that way.

And this Jesus is coming as the Savior who sets people free, and we don't want people to be set free from our system. That won't work. That won't work for us. We can't allow Jesus to have the credit. Beloved, if the people, if the Pharisees were unable to refute the miracle, and if they were unable to also at the same time refute or at least deny Jesus the credit for this miracle, and that would practically be the death blow in their mind.

As I said earlier, this was no ordinary miracle. A man being born blind who has now had his eyes opened is a big deal. Jerusalem's not a huge city. Word will get around, and before you know it, this Jesus will amass a great following, and they can't have that. As I was preparing, I was thinking of another example.

If you remember Acts chapter 3, after the ascension of Jesus, after that momentous day, the day of Pentecost, which took place in Acts chapter 2, you remember that? We're told that Peter and John were walking over to the temple, and they go by a gate called Beautiful, and you remember who was there? A man born blind. Here's also a fixture. and they come to this man and he also was a beggar just like this man and Peter and John say silver and gold we don't have any but what we have we'll give unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth write up and walk and the man jumped on his feet and like jumping and leaping and praising Yahweh and word got around right word got around this because They knew him.

Everyone who went to temple and back, they would remember seeing him. He'd put his arms open like this, his hands open, trying to receive some food or some rations for a few coins getting through the day. And then we're told that when the crowd started amassing amazement, Peter stands up. And he begins to preach. In the New Testament, when Peter stands up and begins to preach, you take notice.

He stands up and begins to preach, and he begins to preach repentance. That Jesus is indeed the Messiah. That Jesus is indeed the prophet, like Moses. Back in Deuteronomy, when Moses spoke of a prophet who comes from among your brothers, a prophet like me. When he comes, listen to him.

He says, this is the prophet. Here he is. Repent and believe upon Jesus Christ. And then the officials in Jerusalem didn't like what Peter was saying. They were offended because all these crowd were listening to Peter.

The Sadducees, the priests, the captain of the temple, they all come out and they're not happy because Peter is preaching the resurrected Savior. And then we're told something interesting. Then we're told they arrest Peter and John and they take him into custody. But the damage is done. Because the very next thing we're told is this, that men believed.

And those who believed came to, or those who believed came to 5,000 men. Now whether that's an addition to the 3,000 that we've been told, I don't know, but I can tell you this. When a miracle like that takes place, it doesn't produce faith. We've said that over and over again, miracles don't produce faith. But what they do is authenticate the person by which God is performing the miracle through so that those who are listening to the crowd will stop in their tracks and listen.

Take notice. And when they do, they preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit is the one. The power of the Holy Spirit is one who presses the truth of that gospel in the soul of a man, in the soul of a woman, and regeneration, salvation, faith, and they're added into the family of God through union in Christ. A miracle like this could be the death blow of the Pharisees if word gets out and if they don't squash it as quickly as possible. And that's a small example of what could possibly happen if they don't get this under control.

They go into damage control. Three interrogations. We've looked at the first two already from verse 13 through 17. They question a man who was previously born blind. We've taken our time and we've considered that section, but the verdict is he's not Rick Kennedy.

This man has said how it is that this Jesus, the man called Jesus, he's the one who spat on the ground, made some of my, put on my eyes, sent me down to the pool of Salon. I went, watched, and now I see! So they confirmed two things that the Pharisees didn't want to hear, right? First, that I was blind. And now I see, and the person who made me feel defeated, no, they don't want to hear that.

So we'll go next. We'll work on his parents. And then from verse 18 to 23, they then approach the parents and interrogate the parents. Maybe we'll have better luck with the parents. And they do, it seems they do, don't they?

Because the parents were willing at that point To confirm. To confirm that yes, this is our son. And yes, he is or was born blind. We'll confirm that much. But as far as who performed the miracle, as far as who it was that brought sight and opened his eyes, we're not prepared to go there.

Why? Because that's a cost we're not willing to pay. Being excommunicated from the synagogue, as you heard last week, was to be essentially excommunicated from the society of the people of Israel. We're not prepared to go that far. But it did advance their cause.

Because although they didn't confirm Christ's involvement, the Pharisees now cannot refute the miracle took place. You know, they need the man to recant. Or the parents to say, no, that's not him. That's not our son. If they haven't wanted those two, then they have to go to step two.

And that is to attack the moral character of Jesus Christ. Show him how to be a sinner. To drag him in the mud. to spit on him, to revile him among the people. That was the only way that they could get what they want.

That was the only way they can repair the fracture that is happening among their sect. That is the only way that they can squash this whole event and push the people away and say, there's nothing to see here, go on in every way. That's what they do. They pursue to make Jesus out to be a flagrant sinner. So in the final stage of their investigation, they turned back to the man in question.

That's what we got to the other week. Verse 24. So for the second time, they called the man, but being blind, said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. For a second time, they call the man.

You have to ask why. Why have they gone there a second time? Do they honestly think there are any details that the man had missed in the first time round? He seems to be pretty concise, but this is a summary. You remember, he's probably said it over and over again, and basically when the Pharisees come, he just says basically, muddle my eyes, wash my eyes, and now I can see.

They confirmed everything they didn't want to confirm. These Pharisees aren't going back to this man because they're hoping that new details will surface. Something they hadn't considered. No, that's not what's going on here. They've gone back to turn up the heat.

To apply the pressure on this man. To feel the weight of being in front of the mighty Pharisees. The ones who are respected amongst all. Those Pharisees who speak and everyone listens, those who utter words and they become laws in the town or in the city of Jerusalem. They wanted him to shrink back into his cell.

They wanted him to be afraid. They wanted him to recant some of his testimony by turning up the heat. Who knows? Who knows? Maybe if they apply the heat, he'll crumble.

After all, he does have his parents' DNA, does he not? They crumbled. Fear had struck into the very being of their hearts. Maybe if these pharisees try a little harder, maybe they'll get him to feel the weight of what is going on and the consequences of him not towing their line. Maybe he'll crawl under his shell and recant his testimony, or at least a portion of his testimony, just enough for the pharisees to go back out and say, hey, this was a sham.

But he is resolute. He's a lover of truth. I love that about him. Give glory to God, they say. We know that this man is a sinner.

Give glory to God. That's an interesting phrase. Give glory to God. Now, you and I, We understand words, we understand grammar, we understand phrases. We can sit and say, yes, we understand what that means.

Give glory to God. No one would deny that the chief end of man is to give glory to God. No one would deny that we were created as creatures to glorify the good and holy and righteous Creator. That the very existing of the creature, existence of the creature is to bring, reflect glory and to exalt in its maker. None of us would deny that.

None of these people would deny that. That phrase, that phrase, give glory to God. I believe this. Pharisees have used it specifically for a reason. I did a word study and I looked through the Old Testament to see where else that phrase is used.

Give glory to God or give glory to the Lord God or the Lord God of Israel. And I found maybe a handful of times only where that terminology, that phrase, was used in the Old Testament. For the most part, it's used in a general way. where a prophet of Israel would proclaim, give glory to God to the people of Israel. In other words, repent, turn from your wicked ways, and give glory to God in the way you live, in the way you honour Him, in the way you obey His law, in the way you pursue wholeness and righteousness generally.

And it's also used once by the Philistines, actually the priests of the Philistines. You may remember back in 1 Samuel, around 5 or 6, where the Ark of the Covenant was taken and captured. by the Philistines, you remember that? Good. They took it into their own temple, into the house of Dagon, and Dagon falls, head gone, arms gone.

God, there's no synchronism if God is here. But then plagues started to come on the places where the Ark of the Covenant was coming. And in the end, the priests were summoned and they said, this is what you need to do. You need to send it back. This is too powerful.

We don't understand this sort of thing. Send it back. But don't send it without an offering. You send it with a real offering. Send it back.

Give glory to the Lord God of Israel, is what they say. These are pagan priests that say this. Give glory to the God of Israel. Maybe, maybe he'll lighten the plates and give us mercy. That again was spoken from the mouth of the priest in a general way to the people.

Only once did I find that that phrase, give glory to God, was spoken from the mouth of a man to another man. And it's found in Joshua chapter seven. We're not far from there. We're in the book of Deuteronomy, and Joshua is coming, and he's coming very quickly, that you might know. That, as our brother reminded us so eloquently this evening, that Moses was forbidden the entry into the promised land.

And so Yeshua, Joshua, will be the one who enters them into the land of inheritance. He's the one with whom God will be. And they do, they cross over the Jordan. And the first conquest, the first battle in the conquest, who would remember, is the battle at Jericho, right? They go there.

And the Lord said, you devote everything to destruction. Anything living must die. Men, women, children, kids, all their animals, devote to destruction. But the silver and the gold and the bronze and the iron, He left, and he put it in the treasury of the Lord. But there was one greedy man among them.

One greedy man among them who found it within his own desire to take some of the spoils, in essence, stealing from God. Remember, that was meant to go into the treasury of the Lord. And so he does, he finds it within himself that he was worthy of taking some silver and some gold. and a beautiful cloak, presumably he thought that it looks better on him than the guy he presumably killed, right? So he takes that among to himself and he hides it in his tent and then he was given an opportunity to confess his sins.

But he doesn't. And the Lord leads Yeshua, Joshua, to call him out. And when Joshua does call him out, he says, come. My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel. And give praise to him.

And tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. Achan, you've been found out. You've done the unrighteous deed. You've rebelled against God.

Your rebellion has cost 36 lives in the battle of Ai. So Yeshua is the one who looks at Achim and confronts him and says, give glory to the Lord God of Israel. Speak truth. Tell me, don't hide, tell me what you have done. Maybe, just maybe, that's the only example I found in the Old Testament, that these well-versed Pharisees put themselves in the high ground, thinking themselves as being something similar, and they're speaking to this man and saying, give glory to God, confess your sins.

Tell us of your deception. Face up to the lies that you've been speaking. The Lord God is not impressed with your lies. Say the truth. From the high ground they're looking at this man and thinking we can apply the pressure on them.

Tell us the truth. Maybe in their mind, they've still gone back to possibly that he would be able to say, yes, you're right, it's not me. I wasn't the one born blind. I put the clothing on, I look like him. I just wanted the accolades.

I wanted the maybe. But unlikely, I don't think that's it. I think option B is what they're trying to push. I think at this point, the Pharisees have already come to recognize that the miracle had taken place. After testimony of the parents, they've got nowhere to go with that.

We give glory to God in the sense of, okay, if we give you that much, let's say you were born, and now you've been made to see. Your eyes have been miraculously opened. We'll give you that much, but don't you dare. Don't you dare give the credit to Jesus Christ. Don't you dare give the credit to this sinner.

Don't you dare give the credit to him. Only earlier they called him a Samaritan. They called him demon possessed. That is the depth of hatred they have towards Jesus. Give glory to God.

Confess your sins. But don't you dare give credit to Jesus Christ. Maybe. Maybe he'll shrink back. Maybe he'll change his testimony.

Maybe he'll say something like, you know, I was blind, now I can see. I could have got it wrong. Was it Jesus? Was it John? Was it Judah?

Was it Joshua? Was it Josiah? I've got the names wrong. You're right. No, this man is resolute.

He's a lover of truth. Something is happening. He's not yet a Christian. We said that in previous sermons, and I'll say it again. He's not yet a Christian.

How do I know that? Because to be a Christian, to be united in Jesus Christ, to have known him salvifically, you need to have an intimate knowledge of him. And he has not yet got an intimate knowledge of him. It will come, but he's not there yet. But, Bruce Lee, the spirit of God is at work.

I'm holding this man even now, to be resolute, to love truth the way he loves truth. He doesn't brag. He doesn't brag. But how about the Pharisees? Give glory to God.

We know what you know. You've been employed, you've been entrusted, you've been enlisted to this service because the people of Israel thought, at least, that they considered you as the knowing ones. So tell us, what do you know? What have you confirmed? Oh brothers and sisters, when a religious leader says, I know, you've heard him wrong.

Because his words have a bit of pull. We know. How? How did they get it so wrong? How could such wickedness come out of the mouths of men who supposedly know the scripture, who studied it, who memorized it, who have taught it, who have meditated upon it day and night?

How could men who witnessed the life of Christ, the beauty of Christ, the teaching of Christ, His claims, His power, His testimony, the fact that no one could pin a single sin against Him. How could men like this get it so wrong? What a sin. What a vile sin. To call the righteous Son of God, the one who is the epitome of pure righteousness, The one who is the epitome of holiness and everything that is good and perfect.

To tag him with being a flagrant sinner. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. His men claim to be men who walk in the light. They claim to be men who see. They claim to be the ones who guide the people of Israel.

But we're seeing that the opposite is being proven. As we work our way through the rest of the text, we will see, and I believe by inspiration of the Spirit of God, we will see a reversal taking place. That means, as we work our way through the rest of the text, it's the Apostle John's intention to show us that those who claim to see are in fact the blind. Those who claim to be in the light are in fact in darkness. Those who claim to have knowledge are the fools.

And those who claim to be the teachers of the Word of God are the ones who will be taught the Word of God by a beggar who seeks truth. and puts them on the spot. A reversal is taking place, and the Apostle John wants us to take notice. And it's not only the Apostle John, but it's Jesus himself. Because in summary of this chapter, in verse 39, Jesus says it better than I could ever say it.

For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may what? See. And those who see may become. Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.

1st Peter 1.25, he answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. You accuse this Jesus of being a sinner. Well, right now, at this day, John, I'm not in the position to make that theological assessment on that statement.

He's pretty honest. He says what he knows and what he doesn't know. He says, aside, he's not going to presume on the things he does not know. He's not going to speak and open his mouth and just babble on on things that he doesn't know about at this stage. I don't want to feel Words, there's no wisdom in just speaking.

I know some things, I don't know some things, but I'll tell you what I do know. What he does know is truth. Even under these high pressure situations, he's being given the courage by the Lord, I believe, to speak truth. And he's not caving in. But if you're like me, and you're reading through this narrative and really just meditating upon what's going on, And sometimes you're able to immerse yourself in the text and you begin to feel what he's feeling.

You begin to be able to envisage yourself actually in the shoes of this man, confronted with his Pharisees and thinking through how that pressure would have been like. Beloved, I would say that where this man is at this point in time, whether he knew the fullness of this or not, is as though he's in a boiling pot. And the heat is being turned up slowly but surely. The pressure of the heavyweights of the day, the religious heavyweights. And that's what he's feeling at this point in time.

These men would go as far as it takes to get their way. They have a narrative. And they are firm in their hearts, they're resolved in their minds to make sure that they achieve the ends. And whatever the means is to achieve that end, they will pursue. If that means if they've got to run over or steamroll over the vulnerable, then they will do that.

If you're looking for compassion, you're going to the wrong place. This man has been caught in their hands at this point in time. A people who are willing to pay whatever price, whatever it takes to get their way. And it seems like he's hopped in his own so far. He's doing pretty good.

He's doing pretty well. But how far can he go against such fierce opposition? So if you put yourself in his shoes, I've tried to do that myself. I think I felt sorry for him at this point in time. That's the best expression I can come up with.

But I don't think we're meant to feel sorry for him. I think there's a place in the life of a Christian for the compassion that we ought to. But to feel sorry for someone is almost like saying, they should not be there. I wish he wasn't there. I wish he wasn't confronted with this difficult situation.

But beloved, I believe as we work our way through the rest of the text we'll find this is the best place it could be. This is exactly where He needs to be. Because yes, there is no denying that He's in the hands of the evil Pharisees. Yes, there is no denying that their agenda and their objective is wicked to the core. Yes, there's no denying that he's in a very difficult situation, and it's a situation we probably would not hope on anyone we know, not even our enemies.

Yes, it's true that this man does not have omniscience, so that means he doesn't know how it'll all work out. You and I do, because we've read the text. He's still in the midst of it, and so he does not know how it'll all work out. We know that he's a happy ending for this guy, but he doesn't know that, not yet. Between now and then, he's going to have to endure the strongest and the fiercest opposition.

And beloved, by the end of this interrogation, he will pay the greatest price. He'll be excommunicated. And as I said last week, if you remember, being excommunicated in the first century was pretty much putting your life away. Socially speaking, economically speaking, you were pretty much cut off of the people of Israel. He doesn't know that yet, but that's the course He's taking.

And it's going to end badly for Him, humanly speaking. But standing on truth is costly. Standing on truth is going to cost Him everything. He'll be required to endure a world of pain before He experiences the bummer that that is Christ. But is it all meaningless?

Is the pain that he's experiencing, is that meaningless? Is the suffering, is the oppression, is the confrontation that he's experiencing, the fear, the pressure, is the persecution, and it is that because he's doing it, because of the name of Christ. Is it all for nothing or is there something bigger brewing in the pain? He can't answer that question yet, right now. He can't answer that question yet, but by the end of his passage, he will be able to have a clear answer to that question.

So right now, as I said earlier, if you were in his shoes, what would you be thinking? What would your next course of action be? Brother, when I'm confronted with these sort of difficulties, We ought to be praying. What you do, I said last week, in the times of persecution, in times of difficulty, what you do in those moments is telling of where your soul is. But let me ask you the next question I have on my heart and on my mind.

What would you be praying for? What would you be praying for? I think I have a very good idea. You know how I have a good idea? Because I think I would be praying for the same thing.

And it's one thing that I pray for all of you when you're going through difficult times. Relief. One of the first things we would be praying for is relief. Oh Lord, this is difficult. This suffering, this oppression, this tribulation, this affliction that's coming my way, these infirmities, whatever they are, fill in the gaps.

Lord, this is difficult. Will you please, the Son of God who's in complete control, will you please flick the relief valve switch and make this ease? I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to experience this pain anymore. I don't want this confrontation anymore.

I don't want this pain. I don't want this suffering. I don't want to experience this difficulty. Lord, please, it is in your control. Please let it go.

Let this just end for me. Get me out of this. It hurts. Get me out of it. Make it go away.

I'm your son. I'm your daughter. You say you love me. I can't take anymore. Rescue me from this difficulty.

I don't want to endure this anymore. Does that prayer sound familiar? I'd rather be out there really quick to pray for relief. And don't get me wrong. You ought to pray for relief.

We ought to pray for relief. But is that the only thing you pray for? Is that the only thing I pray for? Is that what we're hedging our hope upon? That unless I get relief, I'm not going to be satisfied.

Unless the Lord gives me relief from this situation or for this difficulty, I'm not going to be satisfied. Then the next question I want to ask you is this. What if you do pray for relief and it doesn't come when you want it to come? Or even worse, what if you do pray for relief and it does not come at all? What then?

What then? Do you find yourself abandoned? Do you find yourself as if God's just let you go and cut you loose and said, I've had enough with you? Is that where it is? Because he's not responding to your prayers for relief.

And if that is the only prayer that we're praying through the difficult times, we ought to pray for relief for ourselves and our brothers and sisters. But is that the only prayer we should be praying for when we enter into times of difficulty and times of affliction? We pray for relief and also believe that despite any sin and unrighteousness in the circumstances of our life, that His hand is also in the trial. That His hand is in the affliction, that His hand is in the difficulty, that His hand is in the trial and the tribulation. And beloved, His hand is in it.

It's in it because, precisely because He loves you. And if he loves you, you are exactly where you need to be. And as difficult as that is to believe, the boiling pot for this man who is yet to know Christ salvificly is the best place for him to be because he will work out for his ultimate good. And beloved, how easy it is for me to say these words. How difficult is it to believe them?

As I say them, and as I pray these things for you, and as I prepare, I'm always praying, Lord, help me, help me not to be a hypocrite when I speak these words, because I know my own heart. I know how I've dealt with affliction and pain and suffering. I know what I should be doing. I know whom I should be trusting. But I'm not always trusting as I should be.

I intended to preach through to verse 34. There's the narrative there from 24 to 34. For one interrogation, it would have made a good sermon, I think. I mean, it would have had the whole context in our minds. But last minute, practically last minute, I decided I didn't want to go there.

I want to just remain in verse 25. I don't want to go any further. Now we will look on to what comes next in this last interrogation, the few moments that we have left. But we're going to have a look at what takes place mainly in the vertical conclusion from a high altitude point of view. Lord willing, next time we're in the Gospel according to John, we'll come back down into the grassroots, into the weeds, and we will do the exposition of the intricate, wonderful richness of God's Word as we go on and do week to week.

But until then, for the rest of the time we have together, we're just going to have a bit of a high view of what is taking place here, because there is a principle that I hope, by the grace of God, to extract from this text. Now, before I do, I want to keep in the forefront of your mind that we are dealing here with a man who is yet unregenerate. We agree on that. He still has not come to know Christ in a so vivid way, that the Lord Jesus Christ has still not been made known to his heart in an intimate, so vivid way, because as of yet, he does not know him intimately. We need to get that back there once.

But the principles that we'll find here in this text, I believe are the same applies to you and I, because I do believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that this man, this man is actually now a recipient of the work of the Holy Spirit, even now preparing him for salvation. So bear with me. When the Pharisees called this man to interrogate him once again, Despite the man's beaming confidence that we see his display of courage, which is unusual, right? He had so much courage in the face of this opposition. I don't think he welcomed the opportunity with open arms.

There's no doubt he was fearful. There's no doubt he didn't want to be there. There's no doubt he had a good grasp of what was going on. He may have been blind when he wasn't born yesterday. If his parents had known already that the persecution would come their way, if they didn't toe the Pharisee line, if they didn't submit to the way they wanted things, or if they proclaimed Christ as Messiah, if his parents knew that it was public knowledge, then it's fair to say that he knew it also.

He would have known that if he did not oblige, if he did not submit to the forceful inclinations, let's say, of the Pharisees to press him into saying something that would reproof Christ, or would turn the attention away from Jesus, receiving the accolades and the credit for this miracle. He knew that there would be a well of hurt that would rain upon him. He knew. He knew that much, as I said. He may not have been able to see it, but he could certainly hear it.

He could certainly hear it. And as I said, I believe the Spirit's hand is upon him. And so when I go back, and go back to what I said before, that the pressure being applied upon this man, him being in a place where he, at this point, did not want to be, you and I can associate with that, where we're going through difficulties and circumstances of this life, where we are in places where we just, we would rather be anywhere else, but not here right now. Dark places. Dark places.

But we just don't want to be here. We don't want this hurt here, this pain here. I don't want to be here. Then, hypothetically speaking, if this man was able to pray and was able to achieve what he prayed for, and he prayed, Lord, give me relief, would that actually have been the best thing for him? From the beginning of this conversation, if he said, Lord, make this go away, and he made it go away.

Sometimes we pray and we think that that's how things work. hoping for. Lord, take me out of this situation. We pray that the Lord give us relief in the next five minutes. Sometimes we even pray, I don't know if you've been this way or it's just me and I pray and I pray expectantly and with faith and even to the point where I open my eyes I think a phone call is going to come now.

But it doesn't come. It has happened when it has but some of the most times it just doesn't But if this man got what he wanted, if he did get the relief that he was asking for, hypothetically speaking, would that have been the best outcome for him? Would the outcome have been the same? Oh, brothers and sisters, if this is the only point that I may forgive you, and the only point you walk away with, please see that according to the testimony of Scripture, the suffering and the affliction and the persecution and the difficulties that we go through another way of God accomplishing what he's going to accomplish through them, he would do because he loves you. And that is the only way, in his wisdom, in his sovereignty, to make you into the person that he is making you into, someone who looks more and more like Jesus Christ.

There is absolutely no substitute for the difficult times that come our way and the flesh hates the That's why I said earlier that it's good to have compassion on others. We have to be careful if we feel sorry for them, in a sense, because then we don't know what God is actually working through that suffering, because we know that God is the one who refines through fire. He refines through fire. And it pleased him to give us a really good example of that refining here right before us, verse 24. So, for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, glory to God, we know that this man is a sinner.

And he answered, whether he's a sinner, I do not know one thing, I do know that though I was blind, now I see. Whether he is a sinner, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. Is that a big deal? Where this man is at, at this point in time, I think he's being sincere. Is it a big deal that he says, whether he is a sinner, I do not know?

The Pharisees aren't speaking as though Christ is a sinner and as though he's affected by original sin. It's not simply denial of the virgin birth here. It's not as though they're saying Jesus sins every now and then. because they know they do as well. No, when they say he's a sinner, they're saying that his life is stamped and he's defined by sin.

That this is an unrighteous man. The trajectory of his life is one of wickedness, of blasphemy, of unrighteousness. That this is a flagrant sinner. That this is a sinner that God looks upon and is repulsed by and cannot even look upon. That's the definition of what the Pharisees are saying when they say that this man is a sinner.

And that's why they were justified in their own minds to say, you're a Samaritan and they know you are demon possessed. And the other chapter. This man, The man is a sinner, they say. And his response is, I don't really know how to respond to that. You see, at this stage, this man who once was blind is conflicted in his heart and his mind because previously he's already said that I believe he's a prophet.

He's said that already. But when the Pharisees confront him and say this or that, he's like, at this stage, I don't know theologically how to answer that question. I just, I don't know. But this is a big deal. It's a really big deal.

You cannot have salvation in a saviour who's a sinner. There is no salvation. A sinner pays for his own death before the Lord, even if he'd sinned once, even if the Pharisees were intending to say, which they were not, that this is a man who's affected from his original sin. He cannot be the saviour. He cannot be Messiah.

He cannot bear your sin and mine. He cannot atone for anyone's sin if he had sinned even once on his own. This is a big deal and he needs to be sure. Whether he is a sinner, I do not know, will not cut it. Anyone who says, whether he's a sinner, I do not know, but I'm going to believe in Jesus.

No, that salvation will not occur because salvation cannot occur in a saviour who is a sinner. He needs to grow. He needs to grow in knowledge, and as we work our way through, it's incredible how the Spirit of God gives him that growth as he works his way through this interrogation. And he will not grow unless the Lord puts him in the boiling pot of these Pharisees and their evil treatment of him, where he's compelled, by the grace of God, he's compelled to look deep within at what took place, and then theologically, according to his understanding of Scripture, as we'll see, deliberate in his mind. deliberate in his heart, examine what had taken place according to his understanding of scripture, and then come to a conclusion, because it's important to know whether Jesus is a sinner or not.

You see, the Pharisees also, these are men who had come to be deemed by all as people who know it all. Very rarely can you even mention a single time where a Pharisee said, I don't know. They know everything. They teach, and they speak with confidence. They speak and they're heard, and hardly ever would we ever hear that they say, we do not know.

Yet in this passage, they don't know one thing. So you've got two people, both not knowing something. This sinner, this man who was previously born blind, will confess, and I think sincerely, that whether Jesus is a sinner, I do not know. In fact, he needs to know for salvation. And the Pharisees also confessed a little later on.

They said, where he comes from, we do not know, which is a question of authority, because it's comparing him to Moses. We are disciples of Moses. We know God spoke through Moses. But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from. You have two sets of people.

This blind man who says, I confess, I don't know whether Jesus is a sinner. He needs to know for his salvation. And you have the Pharisees on the other hand who say, we do not know where he comes from. Authority, which authority he comes from, in the name of whom he comes from. I'll explain that in the next few weeks.

And they need to know if they're gonna be saved. By the end of this passage, by the end of this passage, we will know who it is that is concerned in knowing truth. Because when one does not know and is sincere, And either he pursues knowledge before the Lord and he's gracious to give that knowledge, or he regains that knowledge and grasps and apprehends the wickedness that has brought him to this place. Whether Jesus is a sinner, So I'm not going to open my mouth and answer that yet. This man knows some things, but he doesn't know enough.

And the Lord knows it. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, he'll take me through a journey which will entail suffering, persecution, excommunication, or is it not? Treated as one would treat a leper in the community, pushed away from all as an excommunicated person, not knowing where he'll get his next meal from. Because that excommunication would include his parents also. But the Lord will use that.

to grow him in his knowledge, to bring him to a point where his knowledge increases and increases and increases and increases, so that he will know truth. So when presented with the Saviour, submits, and he falls on his face, he worships. he requires to be crystal clear on whether he is a sinner, I do not know. The Lord is working to illuminate this truth so that when he's confronted with Christ, he'll be ripe for the picking, so to speak. The intention for the Pharisees is to draw this man and to stretch this man and to press this man on all sides, to make him break, to crush him.

And their evil is inexcusable, but in the context He began with very little knowledge of who this Jesus is. When his neighbours asked him, he said, this man they call Jesus, that's all I know. How do you know? I heard his name being uttered when he came. His life has grown and grown and grown in his understanding.

Now he's being forced. Through the persecution and the oppression of the Pharisees who got him there and have pressed him to a point where most would just explode, he's been forced to dig deeper and to contemplate, okay, I can't even think about this, because I know their agenda. But let's think about this. If the Pharisees weren't there, he might have just walked off and enjoyed his physical sight. And that would have been it.

Now, of course, it is elected in Christ before the foundation of God. You know what I mean. But the Lord allowed for him to be pressed on all sides through the wicked men of the Pharisees so that he would illuminate the ignorance that he has in his heart and produce a light, a light that would embrace Christ and see forth the fruit of salvation. Listen to the results. Listen to the results of the testing.

Beloved, this is why I want us to see this, and this is why I've said that the principle runs truthfully when you're going through a difficult time, when you're feeling oppressed and you pray for a living, the Lord doesn't do this. It's because He is at work. His hand is in the situation. And His hand is in the situation not simply to make you a, I don't know, I don't have an example, so I'm not gonna go there. His hand is in the situation to make you more like Christ.

To mature you, like we heard the other week, that Christ was made perfect through something. You and I are made perfect, that is, made mature in him through suffering. Listen to how he progressed in his understanding. Verse 25, he responds to the Pharisee's statements. He says, whether he's a sinner, I do not know.

Whether he's a sinner, I do not know. He's pressed further by the Pharisees under these horrible conditions. He's compelled to then think about those words. He's compelled to deliberate on what has taken place. It's interesting to note that no further revelation is given.

He doesn't receive direct revelation from God in order to interpret. He doesn't. What he does have is the experience of what has already taken place And what he does have is the scripture. Further reading of this text will actually solidify in your heart and mind, I hope, that this man, although was blind, he was well-versed in the word and he's teaching the Pharisees. He will teach the Pharisees biblical truths that they've been violating.

So no further revelation is given to this man, simply a contemplation based on the word of God, what he knows, what he's been taught, what he's sat under, with his hearing probably heightened because his eyes were gone for decades, he'd listen to the scripture. And he would reside up here in his mind, he never settled into his heart, only now is it beginning to make sense to him. Whether he is a sinner, I do not know, but then he goes to contemplate, and as we read further, he starts to see, wait a minute, Never since the creation of the world has anyone who has been born blind been made to see. God's hand must be on this, Jesus. God's hand must be in this miracle.

We know, he says, which is true, that sinners are not heard by God. God is not obligated to listen to sinners. How many passages in the scripture do we see over and over again? They will call and I will not listen because of their unrighteousness. An unrighteous, a flagrant sinner, a person is living in a lifestyle of sin.

He doesn't have the ear of God. God is not obliged to hear that person. Even if he cries with all sincerity, God is not obliged to hear it. We'll hear more of that the next time we're here and we're looking to those passages a little bit closer. And he says, if someone does the will of God, if someone does the will of God, then he's the one that God listens to because if someone's a sinner, God doesn't listen to that person.

He's done this miracle, it's gotta be from God. So his deeming the miracles though, he's saying, Father, bring light. And the Father, the Father brought light, he brought my eyes back. And if the Father listened to Christ, and the Father says throughout the testimony of Scripture that he does not listen to the sinful, he does not listen to the wicked, he doesn't listen to the blasphemer, then Jesus cannot be either of those. You Pharisees are saying he's a sinner.

You began by saying this is a sinner because he violated the Sabbath. It must be your Sabbath, but not the Yahweh's Sabbath. You say he's got to be a sinner like you. You've affirmed that. You've spoken as authoritative as you can that this man is a sinner.

Give glory to God. But I can't go with that because although at one point in the conversation I could not deliberate, at one point in the conversation I could not make my mind, I could not theologically be able to give you an answer, but now as I think it through, Now as I allow the word of God that was up here, what I've heard over the years, allow the word of God to actually soak in and give me illumination. I can now stand before you giants, and I'm this small, and you're giants, and you can tear me to shreds, but I can stand before you, and now I can say with confidence, I have thought it through. I've thought it through. And then he says, once he's thought it through here in verse, go from verse 31.

Let's go to verse 30. The man answered, why, this is an amazing thing. You do not know where it comes from. And yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners.

But if anyone's a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been seen that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind if this man were not from God. I don't know whether this man is a sinner or not. But then, in the progress of time, this is a summary. Remember, for us, it takes us the better part of 15 seconds to get to that text, but it could have taken hours.

These procedures, the proceedings could have taken hours. We don't know. We've only got a summary here. But over time, the Spirit of God is working at this man, and he's gone from a point where I do not know whether Jesus is a sinner, and where God's got him to a point where If he was not from God, he can do nothing. Therefore, I conclude that Jesus is from God, and you are liars.

Get out of here. And they kick him out of the synagogue. You were born in utter sin. We'll see how that means, what that means the next time we're together. How did this come about?

And when he sees Christ, Christ says, do you know him, my son? Have you believed in him? Who is he? falls on his face and worships him. Why?

Because the spirit doesn't prepare his heart. There is a certain amount of knowledge that you need to know, that I need to know, to be saved. And to settle upon whether Jesus is a sinner or not, that won't cut it. There is no salvation in a saviour who is a sinner. He needs to be the righteous lamb of God, the one who knows no sin, the one who's pure and holy, the one who's the epitome of all goodness and holiness and righteousness, the one who is the very model of perfection, anything less than that, and you don't have a savior.

You have a good man who walked the earth, but you need to recognize that Jesus is. when Christ comes, salvation happens. Was persecution meaningless? Was the suffering meaningless? Fathers and sisters, whenever you find yourself in difficult times, it may not always be as clear, and I have to say that sometimes you may not even get the answer in this age.

But if we don't stand upon the testimony of God's word, and we're gonna stand upon what we do know. I'm so tempted. I'm so tempted to finish off the verse 25, but we're not going to. I prepared to, but we've gone on too long. I really wanna end it there, but I just wanna say one quick thing.

This man said, whether he's a sinner or not, I do not know, but one thing I do know. one thing i do know he says in other words i don't know this at this stage in my argumentation at this point in our discussion i don't know jesus is here but i'm going to stand on what i do know once i was blind but now i can see you and i we don't know what's on the other side of that persecution we don't know what comes tomorrow but beloved brothers and sisters can we do What this man does, can we not stand on what we do know? And if you are in Christ Jesus, if you've been saved by the blessed Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, if you've been saved and united in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who bled and died for your sins and mine, then the gospel of Jesus penetrates your heart and you know one thing for sure, you know I've been forgiven. I've been set free of my sins. I know that He's going to set a place for me and one day He's going to come back and He's going to take me home.

I know that when he cried out, it is finished, that it is finished. I know that this time in his life there will be much tribulation. But take heed, I have overcome the world. I know, I know, I know. I'm going to stand on what I know.

There's so much in this book I don't know. But what I know, I'm going to stand upon and I'm going to say, Lord, teach me. Teach me what I don't know. Lord, teach me. I'm going to sit at your feet.

Teach me what I don't know. Holy Spirit, illuminate my heart to what I don't know, but until then, give me the strength and uphold me to reign, to remain resolute in what I do know. For this man, it was, I was once blind, but now I see for you, brothers and sisters, it is, I was once a sinner, but now I'm forgiven, because by grace, through faith in Jesus, I've been cleansed, I've been set free, I've been united to Him.