The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 15: The Blind Man

Episode Date: July 18, 2021

I was blind. I met Jesus. Now I see. If that’s true for you, who needs to hear your story of salvation? Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Isaiah was born. There was a lot of stuff going on. Michelle had been in labor for almost 40 hours. When he first came out within 30 seconds, they knew something was wrong. They whisked him away, and we didn't know if he'd ever see him again. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. It was about an hour in between where we didn't really know what was going on. And I went out, and my dad and one of my good friends was out in the waiting room, and I'm explaining things to them.

And they're like, how are you holding up right now? I don't know, I just need to open up the Word of God. And I was at the end of John 8, I remember, and I started with John 9, and the first three verses came up, and it's the story about Jesus telling the disciples that this man that was born blind didn't do anything wrong. His parents didn't do anything wrong. It's just that the works of the Father can be displayed through. through him. And right then, I remember I had big eyes. I looked at my dad and my buddy West,

and I said, guys, there's the answer right there. There's nothing wrong with Isaiah. Whatever comes back, whatever's going to happen. When he comes back, this boy's not broken. He is exactly the way Lord meant him to be. And I didn't know what was coming back. We didn't know it was a, we didn't have an early diagnosis of Down syndrome. So that was still coming later on. I am Michelle Tesori. Oh, your turn. Okay. I am Paul Tesori. We have been married. nine and a half years. We have a wonderful family, a 15-year-old Alexis, who was baptized, beach baptism a few years ago here at 1122, and a little seven-year-old Isaiah, who's already more famous than either one of us, Alarro, we'll ever be.

When we read and pray over John 9, what we realize is, as we've watched Isaiah through his life, it's watching God work through him. It's watching other people see God in him. Isaiah oozes Jesus out of his skin. It is in his smile. It's in his joy. It's in his laugh. It's in his empathy and his compassion. And you can't get a whole lot closer to Jesus than watching Isaiah. And what I want Isaiah to do, there's the big three for me is I want him to be able to read, I want him to be able to write, and I want him to be able to speak so that everybody can understand him, not just mom and dad, because he is going to have a story to tell. And I don't really care about it. I don't really care about it. anything else. I don't. I have my wants and desires for him. I still wanted to plague off. I wanted

to have great close friends. But beyond all of that, I wanted to be in love with Jesus. And his story is going to be John 9, 1 to 3 over and over again. It's so that the works of my father can be displayed through him, through Isaiah. And until then, I think what Jesus has done through this little boy is before we can get to a place where he fully understands that. He just, brings Jesus with his presence. We must work the works of him who sent me while at his day. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Pastor Jobi says that all the time actually makes us repeat it way too often, I think, but what is the church a movement for? But all people. When 1122, as part of the one initiative, announced celebrating and supporting and loving families of children with special needs was going to be a priority here. It was one of those moments where you just go, of course, of course they are. It's exactly where we are supposed to be. We are called to love on those who have been told by the world they are not worthy.

And now I look at my boy and I know that he's going to a church right now. We are members at a church that is going to be a movement for all people and he will be included in the all people. Amen, amen, amen, church. Hey, my buddy Isaiah is on the front row across all of our campuses. Will you say hey to Isaiah? Are you coming up here? This is not planned. Isaiah decided to, this is happening.

If you're not in San Pablo right now, you're very confused. But Isaiah, just come on, bud, if you're on the stage at this point, come here, buddy. Do you say hey? So, hey, bud, how are you doing? Great. Great. Yeah. What do you think about me giving you back to your mom so I can.

could preach. I'm for that. You're for that? Yeah. Okay, I'm going to give you back your mom because I got to do this thing, all right? All right. Well, after seeing Isaiah, you have to deal with me, so sorry about that. Hey, Tessori family, we love you guys.

Be praying right now. Paul's working a bag over at the British Open. He's on Webb Simpson's bag. He's a caddy. So be praying for Webb Simpson. And no, I will not call it the Open. It's too pompous. It's the British Open.

If I'm going to call anything in the Open, I'll call the U.S. Open, because that's just where my. allegiance is that. But hey, man, welcome to 1122 wherever you're at around the world. If you're online or whatever campus you're at, man. We are excited that you're here. We're excited to be able to worship together. If we haven't met yet, my name is Ryan Stone. I am one of the pastors here at 1122, and I have the unique privilege and honor of being the campus pastor at our newest campus, at our St. John's campus. And before we dig into the word today, I just wanted to take a minute to our church family and say thank you.

On behalf of the people, the 11-20 tours that call St. John's home, man, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for your fervent prayers. Thank you across all of our campuses for praying fervently as we get ready to launch the campus and thank you for your generosity. As one church in many locations, every dollar given goes and is leveraged

towards the proclamation of the gospel, what's included launching St. John's. And I'll say just to Bay Meadows and to Mandarin. I want to give you guys an extra special thank you. All of our campuses, including Baker, sent people to the St. John's launch. But Bay Meadows and Mandarin, you guys went above and beyond and sending leaders and serve staffs and deacons and covenant members. So thank you for understanding the mission of the gospel is to keep moving. And I just say thank you, thank you, thank you. God is doing an amazing work at the St. John. campus and just to encourage us as a church since we've launched which we launched the st john's campus on palm sunday since we've launched we've seen 108 people serving their lives of jesus at st john's isn't that awesome that is so cool and here's what i love 108 at st john's but i can't even begin to wrap my head around this since we've since 2021 has started across all of our campuses and online we have see 920 salvation.

920. God is doing a thing. We are in the midst of a revival, and I am excited. Honestly, I believe part of what God's doing is as he's walking us through the book of John, verse by verse, man, it is unbelievable,

at least for me personally, to watch Jesus deepen our relationships with him. By the grace of God, I grew up in church. God saved me in an early, age. I have read the book of John a bunch, a bunch of times, but every week, because I'm getting ready for the disciple group that I'm in and reading and getting ready to be in that group of men reading the word together, God, every week reveals something new and fresh in his word.

And so, man, I'm excited. Today we're going to dig into John chapter 9. And I want you to see there's a connective tissue from what Pastor Jobi taught last week in John chapter 8. Quite Literally, John 8 ends with the Pharisees picking up stones to stone Jesus, and John 8 ends with, Jesus walks out, John 9 begins with, and as he walks. So this is one story, one kind of a narrative, this one event. And in John 8, Jesus said he's the light of the world, and whoever would come to him would have the light of life. And if John chapter 8, think about it this way, John chapter 8 is like the lecture, right? It's the discourse.

It's the dialogue. Jesus and the Pharisees kind of go toe to toe. He is declaring himself to be God, and they don't like it. And so John chapter 8 is kind of the lecture. John chapter 9 is like the lab. Jesus is now going to go and kind of prove and show what does it mean for the light of the world to be in the world? We're going to see this blind man receive sight both physically and spiritually.

And as Jesus is showing us what the light. light of the world will do to this blind man. At the same time, John is showing us that these religious leaders who thought that they were spiritually could see everything. It seems that they're growing more and more blind to the Jesus that's in front of them. And I'm telling you, there's a lot going on in John Chapter 9. When Pastor Jobi asked me if I would preach, John Chapter 9, I asked him if we could extend the service by a few hours. He said no. And so we're not going to do that. But we're going to do this. While we study John 9, I just want us to be lasered focus on this man's encounter with Jesus, and that an encounter with Jesus will change everything.

So John chapter 9, verse 1, as he being Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. So throughout this chapter, we're going to find a lot of things about this blind guy. And so I want to just go ahead and tell you some of them up front so that we're thinking about this. One, we know that he's blind. We know that this guy has been blind from birth. So this has been something that's been a part of his intent. entire life. He's never seen anything. He's been blind his whole life. We know that he's old enough. We're

going to find out that he's old enough to be out on his own. So he's a grown man. We know that he's a beggar by trade. He's poor. He's the only thing he can do financially to support himself is to be a poor, to be a beggar. There's a really good chance that he's an outcast. There's a really good chance that he's probably been socially discarded. But I love this. I love what John draws our attention to. It says Jesus saw him. Now, not like just sees and keeps going, like the billboards you drive by that you can't remember what was on them, but it seems as if Jesus lingers a little bit.

It seems as if his eyes look at this man long enough that then his disciples begin to realize that there's somebody that they should be looking at because Jesus is lingering, so they start lingering. If this is the only thing you hear this today is this, is whatever pain you brought to this month, moment, Jesus sees you. Like, whatever pain you brought into this moment right now, Jesus sees you. And so his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sin? This man or his parents said he was born blind? Now,

I imagine this guy is like, oh, this argument again. Remember this guy's been blinded his whole life? He's sat on the street and begged. I'm sure his whole life, he's heard the question, like, was his mama so wretched that he was born blind in his mama's wound? Or was this guy so wretched that Jesus went ahead and blinded him so that he could never see the world. Now, it's true that sin does cause pain. But what the disciples are trying to do here is almost like apply a karma-esque view of sin. Now, I do not have time to unpack this, and I'll just say this, karma is not biblical. So if you're a Christian following Jesus, you should not use the words karma.

unless it's the name of a good IPA beer, then use it. But don't use the word karma. Karma is not a biblical, it's not a biblical teaching. What these guys are doing, what the disciples are doing, because they've been taught their whole life. They're trying to ask the rabbi that we know there's a specific pain. Whose specific sin caused it? So Jesus answered, it is not that this man sinned or his parents,

but that the works of God might be displayed in him. One of my favorite things about Jesus is sometimes he doesn't even answer the question we're asking because it's not even the right question. Jesus didn't really answer the question what caused this pain. Jesus answers the question, what is God's purpose in this pain? Jesus is not dismissing the fact that sin causes pain. Sin causes pain. Sin being in the world is the reason we have sickness. It is the reason we have death. It is the reason we have brokenness. but in this case, and honestly, in many of our cases, there's not a specific sin that's causing this specific pain.

A lot of pain in our lives is actually just the byproduct of sin and a broken world. I love it really quick. And this one quick answer, Jesus gives us this concept. Number one, when we find pain, number one, he sees us in our pain. When we find pain, number two, we may actually never be able to unpack the cause of the pain. we may never be able to completely understand where did this pain come from and what caused this pain and why this pain exists.

We can spend our entire lives trying to figure out what's the cause of this pain. And what Jesus is showing us right here is we may never actually know the calls. He doesn't speak to the calls at all. But I do know this. When we can't find the calls, he always, always, always, always, always has a purpose for our pain. Always. Sometimes in like this story, it's to bring healing to the blind man. And sometimes, like watching my father who passed away recently fight cancer for 12 plus years,

the purpose of pain was God to remind us that God sustains us in our pain. And for my friend, the Tessori's, the family, they realized that this thing that they had to embrace was actually the springboard by which they would declare the love of Jesus to hundreds of thousands of people. And so I'm telling you, you may never know the cause of your pain, but Jesus always, always, always, always, always has a purpose. There's always a reason. And at the end of all of our pain is knowing Jesus more deeply. At the end of our pain is seeing the reason for our hope. At the end of our pain is that those around us who need to know the love of Jesus

would see us suffer well and realize there is something different in this person who says to be a follower of Jesus. Verse four, we must work the works of him who sent me while at his day. For night is coming when no one can work. Jesus is foretelling the cross. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with saliva, and then he anointed the man's eyes with mud and said to him, go and wash in the pull of Salome, which means scent.

So he went and he washed, and he came back seeing. All right, just for a second, imagine this dude. All right, Holmes is just sitting on the side of the road, begging for money, and then he hears these dude, these men coming up, and it sounds like maybe there's a teacher, a rabbi with them, because they're asking them all these questions. And I'm sure the guy's like, oh, here we go again. I mean, he didn't even ask for the healing,

but all of a sudden he was an object lesson to Jesus. And Jesus who saw him and knew he needed more than just to be a lesson, he decided, like, all of a sudden, this grown man starts hawking a loogie. Like, when you read the Bible, you don't think Jesus, who was a man's man was like, no. It was like red men infused, like, boom, boom, boogie. Big loogie. and then he made a mud pie with the lugy.

And then he put the mud on this dude's face. So this dude's just sitting there. Next thing, you know, another grown man is slapping mud on his face. If my kids with clean hands walk up and start touching my face, I'm like, you have got to get out in my face. Here's one grown man rubbing mud on another grown man. He says, go wash. And he goes in washing.

You know what? He's healed. He's healed. He sees for the very first time. He wasn't even trying to see. He was trying to just beg for a little nickel, and Jesus came and changed his whole. life. To me, it kind of sounds like most of our salvation stories. We were just kind of doing our

thing, and then Jesus invaded our darkness, and all of a sudden we could breathe more deeply. We had found hope. We had found sight. We had found life. Jesus invades our world. So somewhere between the miraculous touch of Jesus and this man's obedience to go to the well, somewhere in that, all of a sudden, he can see. The light of the world causes the blind. see. I want you to hear this. This is kind of something that's going to be a reoccurring, a driving thought for us, but an encounter with Jesus will change everything. It changes who you are. It changes your identity. It changes the way you walk. It changes the way you talk. It changes the way the other people see you. It changes the way other people talk to you. It changes

the questions that you got. When we have an encounter with Jesus, even if it's just a momentary encounter with Jesus, it will change everything for the rest of our lives. To just have a moment, it is better as one day in your courts, King Jesus and a thousand elsewhere. And it did for this guy. It changed everything. In fact, throughout the rest of chapter nine, we're just going to see him over and over again engaging these conversations where they're just going to keep asking, what happened to you? So the first conversation is with the neighbors. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

Some said it is he, and others says no, but he is like him. Have you ever wondered. Have you ever thought about this? Sometimes it takes more faith to not have faith than something that would be easier to just have faith in. It just takes more faith to not have faith than something that would just easier to be. I'm going to have faith in this thing that I should have faith in. Here's a dude. They have known his whole life, and half the community, half the neighbors are like,

no, I think here's what happened. So the dude was blind, wearing that outfit with that accent smelling like that. And then all of a sudden, that guy completely disappeared. And then a doppelganger who showed up sounded the same and dressed the same miraculously appeared all of a sudden who could see. Sometimes I'm sitting across from people talking about things of Jesus. And the faith by which it takes for them to not believe in the thing that is easier to just have faith in is mind-boggling to me.

maybe just maybe Jesus is real and there's a real miracle it seems much more likely that this guy was miraculously healed than he evaporated into space and scotty beamed in a doppledanger right next to him marvel doesn't even get there right and so here's what's happened if folks in the street are talking like man who is this guy and i think it's him i don't know then it says this he kept saying i am the man which by the way was the first verse i ever memorized in the bible thought it was appropriate neighbors. The second one was woman, what does this have to do with me? I did better on the first one. Second one didn't work out so well. He said, I am the man. He keeps looking at his neighbors and he's saying, yes, I was the blind man. I was the beggar. I was the outcast. I was, I was, I was, but I'm

none of those things anymore because when Jesus opened your eyes and changes your identity, it changes everything. An encounter with Jesus changes everything. And I'm telling us this church, when Jesus opened your eyes, it will open your mouth. And if your mouth haven't opened to talk about the love of Jesus, the embrace of Jesus, you cannot not talk about what Jesus has done in your life. If Jesus has opened your eyes to him being Savior, it automatically, by process and by product, it opens your mouth. An encounter with Jesus allows us to do this. It allows us to confront our past, not with shame, but with victory. Is that the blind guy? Is that the beggar? Is that the outcast? Yeah.

This man looks back and he didn't even flinch. Because when we encounter Jesus, pain turns into hope. Shame is washed away by grace. Darkness gives way to light and death surrenders to life. So the crowd, they ask him a second question. I'm telling you, when you encounter Jesus and he changes your life, people are going to come at you with questions. Paul would say, be ready to give them an answer for the hope that you have. So heads up, it's going to happen over and over again through the text.

There's more and more questions, more and more questions. What happened to you? Verse 10, so they said to him, then how were your eyes open? And he answered them, the man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, go to Salome and wash. So I went and I washed and received my sight. Now, when I read that, I don't, I mean, I think it's all true. I think he just tells him what he knows, but I'm not sure it's satisfactory.

Like, in reality, there's no scientific explanation. There's not really even an attempt at like a logical construct. He doesn't even try to like defend whether or not it's possible or not. Here's what I know. Here's what he says. Look, I used to be blind and then God did a thing. That's his entire explanation. An encounter with Jesus will give you the confidence in the miracle worker,

even when you can't understand the miracle. Like when we really truly encounter Jesus, we begin to realize, I don't know how this thing happened, but God did a thing. Maybe someone asked who, how did you stop drinking? You're like, I don't know. I used to love it and I used to drink, drink, drunk, and then all of a sudden God did a thing.

Or how did the tumor go away? I don't know, but God did a thing? Or how did you reconcile your marriage? 99% of marriages would have fallen apart. I don't know, but God did a thing. How did you forgive him? How did you forgive her? I don't know.

I can't explain it, but God did a thing. How did you conceive? I don't know. I don't know if God did a thing. Or how did you go from spiritual day? the spiritual life. I don't know. I can't explain it. Have you ever talked about trying to rationally and logically explain salvation? I don't know. I can't, but I do know this. God did a thing. When we encounter Jesus, there are going to be a lot of times where we just can't

explain it beyond this. A man named Jesus invaded my life and did a thing. So he tells him, I don't know. So then the third question is this, where is he? And his answer, I love it. He goes, I don't know. You got to think about this. The guy had never seen Jesus. Jesus put mud on his face. And then I keep wanting to sing big disgrace every time he put mud on his face. And then Jesus kind of walks off.

And now you're singing it too. He kind of walks off. Like this man never sees Jesus. He couldn't pick Jesus out of a lineup. But they asked him like, hey, how can you, who is this guy? I love this fact. He has no clue. He's the Jesus Christ expert on him.

his block, on his street, on his cul-de-sac. He knows more about Jesus than anybody else, and they go, well, where is he? And he goes, I don't know yet. I don't even know what it looks like. This is crazy. This should be encouraging to us, but this is crazy. Did you know it's very, very possible to not know all the answers about Jesus and simultaneously lead people to Jesus? It is very possible to not know everything there is to know about Jesus and simultaneously lead people to Jesus. You know how I know this? They gave me a microphone today.

It is not about knowing everything. It's about an encounter with Jesus. This man was honest about his past. He didn't hide anything in shame. He told him everything he knew about Jesus. And he wasn't afraid to say, I don't know yet. I'm still growing in my relationship with Jesus. but he realized that an encounter with Jesus was enough.

And so the neighbors decide they need more help understanding what happened. So the second conversation starts in verse 13. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Which, by the way, I think this is the reason why Jesus made the mud. I mean, he could have just like snapped his fingers and the dude would have been healed. He could have just like, you know, put a little Harry Potter formula on him, you know, and all of a sudden Jesus could have been healed. He could have looked at him and said, go dogs and his eyes would have been open.

Like, there's a bunch of different ways that Jesus could have healed this guy, but he chose to get down on the ground, to spit, and to make mud. And here's why I think Jesus did it. I think Jesus knew. He knew this was against the Sabbath law. He knew that you couldn't need bread or do anything that resembled kneading bread, which making mud pies was against the Sabbath. law. I think Jesus knelt down, began to make the mud pie, put it on this man's face, because I think he thought when this man, when his sight comes to him, he would get taken to the temple courts. And how, what a beautiful picture. I think Jesus wanted the healing of this man born blind to reveal and to show

to the religious leaders that they were actually growing blind. So I think he did as on purpose to create this controversy. Verse 15. So the Pharisees again asked how his, how had he had received his sight. And he said to them, he put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, how can a man who is a sinner do such signs, and there is division among them? So Jesus does a miracle, and the religious leaders get together, and they start to argue about whether or not Jesus is allowed to do what Jesus has already done.

Let me just tell you a leadership lesson. If you ever get in a meeting to ask if something's already happened, can it happen or not? You've already lost. You're already behind. And then let me give us what I would call a church folk a warning. I am a church folk. I've been in church my whole life. Let me just give you a warning.

Give me a warning. If you ever see Jesus move in a mighty way and your response is to question him and not worship him, be careful. Like a minute ago and I said there's 920 salvation. If you immediately go to, I don't know, maybe they didn't know what they were doing, maybe how many of them raised their hand and it counted and it didn't count. If you immediately go to the miracle of salvation and you go to judging Jesus, be careful. Maybe at the end of the service today when we sing and we pray,

maybe you would just come and repent that, Lord, my heart has been a callous and I'm judging you instead of worshiping you. That's a warning to me that I'm sharing with you. Verse 17. So they said again to the blindness. man, what do you say about him since he opened your eyes? And he said he is a prophet. This is the most important question that any of us will ever answer about Jesus. The question the Pharisees ask, what do you say about Jesus? Who do you say that Jesus is? It is the most

important question you'll ever answer in all of your life. And I want you to notice something about the way our man in this story answers it. Back in verse 11, when the neighbors said, who's this dude, he said, it's a man. He uses the word man. He's just a man named Jesus. But then something happens here when the Pharisees ask him. He says, it was a prophet. Now, something's happening.

In this guy, as he's beginning to share more and more about his experience with Jesus, his encounter with Jesus, he's actually beginning to grasp at a deeper level a picture of who Jesus is. Like what if when we share our faith, what if sharing our faith is as much about growing our own faith in Jesus as it is helping someone we love find a faith in Jesus? I mean, talking about your encounter with Jesus is a gift to those that don't know Jesus yet. But at the same time, it's a gift to you. At the same time, as we share our faith, we begin to own our faith at a different level. I love the way Pastor Jobi says this.

He says, one of the best ways to deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ is to help someone else discover theirs. And for this guy, there was a lot at stake. Like, it was common knowledge that these religious leaders didn't like Jesus. I mean, the end of chapter 8, they were getting ready to pick up stones and kill him. So for this man who was just moments ago was a blind beggar with no power, no authority, no sight, he is now standing up to the religious power brokers of the day. and he is suggesting that this man is different, that this man speaks on behalf of God.

So as he sides with Jesus, he's making a very, very bold move. But you know what? An encounter with Jesus will compel you to stand for the truth, even when you're standing alone. An encounter with Jesus, when you know Jesus and you know the truth that who Jesus is, it'll set you free. And an encounter with Jesus will compel you,

even when it's uncomfortable to sit around the back porch in your neighborhood and talk about the values of the scripture that we love, even if you feel like you're standing alone, an encounter what Jesus will compel you to stand for truth. So here's what's going on. Jesus is now getting called a prophet, and the religious leaders, they don't like this at all. And so what do they do? Well, they, they theoretically couldn't debate it out, so now they're going to try to disprove the miracle. So they call for the blind man's mom and dad. And they bring Mama and Daddy and they say, hey, Mama, is this your son?

And she goes, oh, this is my son. He's so precious. Was your son born blind? Oh, yeah, he was born. He was absolutely born blind. Well, how can he see now? Mom and Dad go, he's a grown man. You're going to have to ask him.

They're scared, right? Now here's what I want to see. Secondhand encounters with Jesus are never enough. The blind man had a firsthand encounter with Jesus, and it was enough for him to stand up against everything and stand for Jesus. but a secondhand encounter, you've got to have your own. You can't live off of your grandma's faith.

You can't live off of your friend's faith. And the beautiful part is Jesus isn't even asking you to. Jesus is not asking us to live off recycled faith. He's inviting us to know him, to know him personally. Verse 24. So for the second time, they called the man who had been born blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.

So the theological debate didn't work, the testimony of the parents didn't debunk the myth. And so now the Pharisees are just going to kind of turn this thing towards like a verbal attack of Jesus. And they call them in and this is more of a trial this time than it is a friendly chat. And when they say give glory to God, they don't mean, this ain't like a good old fashioned Medea or like your grandma like, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. This is not church in South Georgia. This is more like an oath. This is like saying swear before God above, own up, admit the truth.

That man is not a prophet. That man is a sinner. Verse 25, he answered, whether he's a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, I was blind and now I see. An encounter with Jesus will fuel our ability. He's more than enough to stand up against all the questions. We don't have to know answers when we know. the answer. We don't have to know apologetics and all of these things when we know Jesus personally.

He had no training. He had no degree. He had no evangelism workshop. My man didn't even have Google search. He couldn't even be like, how can blind people see? Here's why. He didn't have, he had none of that. He had no training, but he had a real experience with Jesus. It was more than enough. Psalms 34-8 says this, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. I'm telling you, church, when we encounter Jesus, it's enough. When we taste and see that Jesus is good, we will know that no matter what the world questions of us, he is good enough. He is a refuge.

He's a good, good father. This man realized he didn't know how to judge Jesus. He didn't know how to judge his personal experience. Every time the Pharisees wanted to argue religion and doctrine with this guy, he just kept saying, I don't know, I don't have any of that training, but I know I met Jesus. Now, I'm not, I'm all in for doctrine. I love it. I have a degree.

I like to read doctrine books for fun. I like theology. But I'll tell you this, when doctrine and theology becomes void of a relationship with Jesus, it's empty. It is empty. And this guy had not had any training. He had not had any experience. He hadn't even been a follower of Jesus for a year or two.

He had been, it's been minutes, maybe a day or two. and all he knew is I can't answer all your questions, but I do know this. I met Jesus and he changed my life. The world's best defense of faith is a deepening moment with Jesus. And then all the other things, share your faith classes, they're incredible, but they are tools and resources that fall in line behind a deepening moment with Jesus. Verse 26. 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. So why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? He didn't know, Rick flared on him. He's like, you want to follow him? Whoa!

And he just walks off. He goes, I love it. This man, like earlier in verse 11, he was like, hey, this guy's a man. I can see now. And then in verse 17, he's like, he's a prophet. He speaks on behalf of God. And now he's saying, I think he's like a rabbi that we should all. follow. Something happens in our convictions. Something deepens in our faith. When we begin to put our own

words on our faith, we begin to wrestle with, and we begin to believe, and we begin to be more deeply convicted that we had this encounter with Jesus, and when we begin to point at this encounter with Jesus, not only is it good for those that we are sharing our faith with, but it is a sweet, sweet gift from the Lord as we deepen our relationship with Him. Verse 28. and they reviled him saying, you are his disciples, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but for this man, we don't know where he comes from.

Whoa. These guys, with Jesus walking around their presence, the son of God, God with flesh on him, they say, we're good following Moses. It blows my mind. They don't even say we're disciples of Yahweh, or we're disciples of the Old Testament God. They say we're disciples of Moses.

Now Moses was a good man, a godly man, but I'm telling you, if a godly man ever becomes more important than you than Jesus, you're in trouble. And I'm not just talking about the single females. I'm saying all of us, if a godly man becomes more important than Jesus, you're in trouble. And every time you feel like, oh man, that might be me, the Lord is kindly saying, repent and be convicted and return back to a good, loving father. The man answers, verse 30, much courage. and at this point some sauciness. He's channeling an inner rig flare and he says, wow, this is amazing.

You do not know where he comes from, and he's opened my eyes? We know that God does not listen to sinners. This guy earlier was just a, he was a blind beggar outcast with no voice in culture, in society, and now because of an encounter with Jesus, he's going toe to toe with the religious leaders.

He is preaching to the preachers. He says, 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 of anyone that opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. An encounter with Jesus will lead us to full-blown courage. And I believe, not only in the days we live in, but the days to come as believers, we will need a dose of full-blown courage like we've never needed before.

This man starts with, I don't know. I don't know who he is. I don't know where he came from. I don't know, I don't really know a lot about him, but I know he did a thing, and now he's standing toe to toe with the religious power brokers. He's not scared of the consequences

because he knew, you know what? I was blind, and now I can see. What's the worst that they can do to me? In verse 34, they answered him, you were born in utter sin. Would you teach us, and they cast him out? I feel like part of today's text is just a reminder of some of us church folk

to be careful. It's another spot. I think we need to be careful. Religion can blind us all. And by religion, I just mean this, rules and regulations and trying to behave in a way that is good enough for God to be pleased with you. Religion can blind us all. Religion can close up our ears. Religion can make us miss what is true in all of us. All of us were born in other sin. And without Jesus, all of us would still be dead in our sin. It's crazy. It's crazy that when religion creeps in, you begin to class. I begin to class.

I'm like the king of kings. Like if you left me to my own vices, I would be the lead Pharisee of Pharisees. I know all the rules, and I don't really technically care if I follow them, but I will make sure you follow them. I'm a Pharisee by nature. And when we're left or our own vices, man, we choose power and comfort and a sense of rightness. We will choose those things over a relationship with Jesus. Jesus. And when we begin to choose that, we'll do anything to stay in control. There's no place in church to be a finger pointer. There's no place in 1122 for that. We're not a place. We're not a culture in

which we can look down our nose on each other. Why? Because here at 1122, we know the truth to be, the truth of scripture to be true. We were all born in utter sin. We all need a Savior. We're all broken. And this is a place for people to come. In fact, I know the reality. 1122 across all of our campuses and online. I know this to be true. There's a lot of people who felt like they were broken and outcast and kicked out of churches. And man, we're an island of misfit toys. We are a dysfunctional family, and we are so thankful.

If you're walking here with wounds, if you're walking here with a limp, we are so thankful that you are here because what God is doing at 1122 through this movement is redeeming a people for his work and for his glory. And so we don't want to be finger pointers. We want to be like Jesus. Verse 35. When he heard about the pain, he runs towards it. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said,

do you believe in the son of man? Which is a phrase, meaning like the Messiah, the Christ. And he answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said, you have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. And he says, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. This is so encouraging. This man has gone toe to toe with the Pharisees. He's introduced countless neighbors to Jesus, the work of Jesus,

and he still hasn't completely got it. I mean, he's standing here face to face with Jesus. His eyes are still being opened. His relationship with Jesus is still being deepened. He's on this journey of seeing Jesus fully who he is. He didn't need to wait until he had all his answers to begin to share his faith. But in this moment, Jesus is revealing. It's encouraging to me because it reminds me that we don't have.

have to have every answer for God to use us. It's encouraging me. We don't have to have everything figured out before we can share the love of Jesus with our neighbors. We don't have to have a perfect house before we begin to invite people over to our table and show them we're broken and yet there's a Savior and if you're broken, you can love our Savior too. It's encouraging me because it reminds me that our relationship with Jesus is ever growing. He opened our eyes and he is opening our eyes. And because he has opened our eyes, it is true that he is opening our mouths in worship, and it's opening our mouths and sharing our faith.

I read verses like this in the scripture, I begin to think about what if? Like, what if you sharing your story and just what God's done in your life, what if it is the plan that God has in store for your neighbor to meet Jesus? What if sharing a cup of coffee with a coworker? What if that's the plan that God has in store

for your coworker to meet Jesus? Jesus? What of sharing a sermon link with a family member out of town? What if that's in God's plan for your family member to know and love Jesus? What of sharing an invite to service next week? I just you stop there. Here's what an invite is. Would you like to meet me at this campus at this time? If you want to meet early, I'll get you some coffee. An invite is not, hey, you should go to church with me sometime. You ever been invited to someone's house? We should get dinner sometime. And they don't tell you when? they're saying is I don't want to be mean and not invite you, but I feel like I should tell you, but if I don't actually give you a date, then we don't ever actually do this. I just totally gave

myself away if I ever say that to you. My bad. So what if what if God is going to use to bring your one more to Jesus is an invite next week when we open up John 1010 and Jesus says, I am the good shepherd and I bring you abundant life? What if inviting your one more next week? What if that's God's plan that they would meet him. And I get the excuses. Well, they may ask me a tough question. No problem. If they ask you a question and it's like really weird, you know, email your campus

pastor. They love answering weird questions. But if they ask you a tough question, no problem. We'll help you Google, we'll help you find it. Desiring God.com. I feel like John Piper's answered everything already. Or they may reject me. They might.

They rejected Jesus. There's a chance they'll reject you. They might be mad at God. Well, maybe you are the one he says. sending to reconcile that relationship. They may say no. They probably will the first few times. But if you keep loving them and keep inviting them, some of you, the person you're married to, she said no three times before she even get coffee with you. And you're inviting someone to follow Jesus for the rest of life. It's okay. Or I love this excuse. I might say something

stupid. No, you're not. You might not. You will. At some point, you will say something dumb. It just happens. And in midst of all of these excuses, I just keep coming back to this truth. the people who are dead in our sins and now can see. If we, the people who are caught in darkness and light has invaded our life, if we, the people who have tasted and see that the Lord is good, if we're the ones who did not know God and were far from God living on our sins, if we're the ones that Jesus has radically invaded our lives, if we're not the ones to go.

If God's opened our eyes, we are to open our mouth. And if we're not the ones to go, then who's going to go? Now, I'm not trying to guilt you. I don't want anybody to leave here and buy a billboard and a bullhorn. That is not the goal. I'm not trying to guilt you into this. I'm just saying, all you got to do is say, hey, there's just one thing that Jesus did in my life. He changed my life.

And it doesn't have to be, I was blind and now I can see. It can be everything from like I had a tough conversation coming up with a family member or a coworker. And Jesus gave me peace and patience. If we are the ones who have tasted and seen the goodness of Jesus and we don't share, who's going to share? Now here's the thing, if you go to a good restaurant and the food's good and the old-fashioned's tasty, you're going to get on everything, Facebook and MySpace and whatever all the things are. I don't even know what they are anymore. The Instagrams, the Yelps, I should get some younger people up here to help me.

You're going to get on and you're going to tell everybody about this place that you ate at, and you're going to give it five stars, and you go, man, it was awesome. The portions were good. You're going to talk about stuff that no one cares about. And in the moment of meeting and tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, may we be a people who shares it. love this in Romans chapter 10. It says this, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. As a reform guy, this is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, because sometimes I get confused, well, who can be saved? Well, according to God's word, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

Verse 14, how will they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how will they believe in him and who they have not heard, and how are they to hear without someone preaching, and how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. How beautiful are the people? Here's what preach the good news means. To some people, it means to stand with the Bible and a microphone and herald to hundreds and thousands. For some people, it means to sit across and have a cup of coffee and to share the good news. Preach means to proclaim. It means to share. It just means to say things. And good news is this. I was dead in my sins and now I have life. And so the Bible

is saying, how are people going to surrender the Lord of Jesus Christ? By those who have tasted the goodness of God? By those who have seen him move, by those who go, I don't know how he did this, but I was blind. And now I see by us taking everything that God

has done in us and turning it upon our neighbors and turning it upon our friends and going, I don't know how God did a thing, but I know that God did a thing. Here's the point. I was blind. I met Jesus, now I see. If that's true for you, then who needs to hear your story? If you got good news to which we do. If you've encountered Jesus, to which you're like, hey, Pastor, I've never encountered Jesus. Just encounter them right now. There's no magical waiting period. Right there

where you're at, just go, Jesus, would you reveal yourself to me? But for those of us who've encountered Jesus, we are compelled to go and share it. For Jesus to open our eyes, our mouth automatically opens. In verse 25, it is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. He says, look, I don't know if he's a sinner or not, but I know this. I was blind and now I see. We don't have to have all the answers. We just need an encounter with Jesus to compel us.

Man, for many of us, we can look back and we can see a moment in which God just moved in. Well, over 10 years ago, my wife and I had been walking through. We were infertile. we couldn't have children, we couldn't conceive, and we were broken, and I was mad at God, I was a pastor, and he wouldn't give me a child. I thought I deserved one. And we went through this season of not being able to conceive, and then I still remember the day my wife called me and said, I think I might be pregnant. I was in a seminary class. I left class, and she said, I think we need another pregnancy test. So I went to Walgreens. I bought every

pregnancy test and even a menopause test. I didn't know what I was looking for. Just, shoot. And we went home, and we peed, she peed on a stick. Not we. There was something. team peeing. And we read the news that we were pregnant and all we could begin to tell people is we don't know. We couldn't conceive. We couldn't conceive. We couldn't conceive. And then God did a thing. And now I've got a 10 year old and an 8 year old who loved Jesus and are missionaries to their school. Amen. And recently, we just moved into St. John's County. And I'm going to tell you about when we moved here a few years ago, we made some really bad real estate decisions. Some of you're like preach it, preacher. I was there too. And we made

some really bad decisions. And we got in a really tough spot. And I began to think that we would never put down roots. I thought we would be kind of transient renters. There's nothing wrong with renting, but the Lord was telling us, put down roots, put down roots, put down roots, put down roots, establish your family in this community. And we began to pray, we began to look, and we couldn't find, and we couldn't find, and we couldn't find. And then God miraculously brought us to a neighborhood. He brought us to a street. And by God's goodness and his sovereignty, he began to weave this thing that we were going to launch a St. John's campus. And we believe wholeheartedly that the stones have been sent to St. John's County,

to love the people of St. John's County in a way that says, there is a Jesus, to all of my neighbors, who are all over the map, from Himdo to Mormon to Yankee, they're everything. He said, go and love. And so in our house, my eight-year-old sat in one of our rooms and prayed to receive Jesus in this house, we've been praying that God would establish for us.

And I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to tell you this. We should celebrate God. I love my children. They're awesome. I love my house, it's really cool. But they failed to compare to this. I was dead in my sin.

I grew up in church. I was good. I was well behaved, but I was dead in my sin. And somehow Jesus invaded my life. And somehow he opened my eyes that my religious activity couldn't save me, only his goodness and his grace. And when I read texts like this, I remember and I'm encouraged. I don't have to have all the answers to point to Jesus.

I just have to have an encounter with them. And I don't want us to land with this question I've been asking. What if our loss of the urgency of eternity is actually rooted in the fact that we've lost how blind we actually were? What if we have, in forgetting how blind we were and how dead we were and how dark our lives and our eyesight were, what if in losing that we've lost the urgency of eternity? What if we're no longer grateful from which Jesus has saved us, the place he saved us,

we forget that he has sent us on a rescue mission to declare to everyone around us. I was blind and now I see. I was dead and now I'm alive. My prayer for us as we read this text as a church is this. My prayer is that Jesus would absolutely invade our hearts and give us a sense of eternity for our neighbors, our coworkers, our family. that is rooted not in guilt, rooted not in arrogance, rooted not in I should, because the pastor said, but it may be rooted in this.

I was blind. I was dead in my sin, but Jesus did a thing. The church, I want us to stand up from here, our campuses, if you'll stand with me. If you're worshiping online, stand up in the coffee shop. And may we worship. And we're going to sing amazing grace. And as we sing this, may it wash over us. May we come and kneel and pray and repent.

I have forgot the blindness from which you saved me for. And I've been walking as if I've earned my salvation. I just repent of that. Lord, would you remind me day in and day out? What does it mean to live with the urgency of eternity? Across all of our campuses, may we fill our altars and beg the Lord to save our one more's by name. May we cry, may we we we wait, may we say names to God that only he can save. And may we worship.

And as we sing, I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind. but now I see, may that be words that we just know, but may they just stir in us, a gratitude from the depths from which we were saved. Let's pray, church. We love you, Lord. And Jesus, we love and we thank you that you love us. God, I pray that we would be encouraged by your word, that an encounter with you changes everything. May we be encouraged by your word that all we need, King Jesus, is a moment with you.

we don't have to have degrees or titles or we just need you and so Lord as we respond as we beg you to save our one mores would you hear our prayers Lord as we sing and declare the truth that we were blind but now we see may with great gratitude may you remind us of where we came from and that in knowing we were blind and now we see maybe maybe king Jesus maybe we would live in a way that our one mores would come to know you too. We love you. Your precious and holy name we pray. Amen.

Church, let's respond.