SEVEN Series: Week 13 - Amazing Grace

Good morning, everybody.

I'm so glad you guys can be with us today to celebrate a pretty special moment.

It's uh it's a really it feels really unique and different that we do this, but do you realize that as part of the primary DNA of the local church is that we raise up and send out leaders?

And so this, as sad as it may appear, to be losing someone who has had such a prolific impact in the life of our staff and church, is actually a derivative of being obedient to the call of the Lord in our life and in our ministry.

And so, what a what a what a great space that we can celebrate that in.

And uh, mixture of emotions come with that, but we are so grateful and continue to be committed to all of you.

Love you guys, grateful for you guys, and I'm excited for what the Lord has in store.

Get your Bibles and turn to the New Testament book of John, chapter nine.

If you don't have a Bible, ushers are gonna come around from the front to the back right now.

And by raising your hand, you let them know that you need a Bible.

They would love to bring you a Bible.

And the Bible that they're gonna bring you is actually your Bible.

We want you to take it with you when you leave today, and we invite you to bring it back with you each and every week so that you can study and follow along in the message and use it throughout the week in your life groups.

Speaking of life groups, I want to make you aware you could not have missed it on your way in our worship center doors today.

There's a great big huge display set up, letting you know that on September the 16th at 6 p.m., we're launching our midweek groups and going to begin our life groups for this next semester.

Please, if you haven't already, grab some information on your way out and make sure you get signed up.

It's actually the very best way outside of volunteering and serving alongside others.

Getting involved in a life group or a midweek group is one of the best ways to make a large church feel like a small community, and that is what we want to do here.

It's also a part of why we exist, to be a community where we encounter Christ and where we equip Christians and engage community, and that is a big part of our equipping.

Listen, typically, our rhythm here is that we introduce the passage of scripture, we read it all the way through in the narrative without a break, and then we'll go back and explain it.

Today, we are going to punt because of this special moment, and we're just gonna read through the scripture one time together.

And so I'm gonna start off by praying, and we're gonna jump into this together today.

John chapter 9, and we're gonna look at all 41 verses together.

John 9 · chapter mention

But let's pray.

Father, we invite your presence now.

Holy Spirit, come move, have your being among us.

As your word goes out, I pray that it would not return void.

Holy Spirit, fill this place.

May it be very physical, very intellectual, very relational, very spiritual, that we recognize, realize, and respond to your call in our lives.

God, I'm also aware right now that there are multiple churches in, around, and throughout our community whose pastors are going to preach a God-centered, gospel-focused message.

Anoint their lips, touch the hearts of the people, that together we would see your kingdom come right here in our community.

And Lord, I pray that you would be glorified.

Now may the words of my mouth and meditation of our hearts be received as a gift, holy and pleasing to you alone, our rock and our redeemer.

And the whole church said in 1772, Pastor John Newton was in his study on Christmas Eve.

He was finalizing his message for their candlelight service.

As he was in reflection, he was overcome with emotion.

Thirty-four years came flooding back through his mind's eye, and he was reduced to rubble.

Thirty-four years prior, March 21st, he was a captain of a ship.

He was a prominent, powerful, successful, well-known slave trader.

Though John Newton had grown up contextually in and around the church, it wasn't something, faith, that is, that he had given himself over to.

In fact, it was the antithesis.

He had become not an anti-theist, but an antagonist of the faith, mocking God, clinging to the things of this world, celebrating his success at the lives of others through slavery and through his rapid climb, just 23 years old, to being a captain of a ship.

He had everything going for him: wealth, success, power, prominence.

March 21st, 1747, Newton, along with his crew, boarded their vessel with a bunch of lives that they were getting ready to sell.

As they were going along, Newton was asleep in his captain's quarters when a massive storm came up on the ship.

Massive torrential downpour.

Winds, dozens upon dozens upon dozens of miles an hour, water scaling the side of the boat, the mast broken.

Newton ran up.

The man who ran the ladder in front of him had been swallowed up in front of his eyes as he hit the deck by the water that had come over, the wave that had crashed on top of the ship and yanked that man into the water.

Newton had his men lash his hands to the helm, tie them so that he could not let go or be pulled away by the wind.

Every moment, for 11 hours straight, this storm battered and beat the Greyhound, the name of his vessel.

He had gripped so long and so hard that the muscles in his hands had given out, the muscles in his forearms had quit on him.

The only way he was able to hang on to the helm was because of the rope that had been lashed to hands.

His hands were broken and battered, beaten up, cut by the rope and bleeding all over the place.

Somehow, somehow, their ship survived.

And in the middle of this storm, Newton cried out, God, if this is if this is what you want to change me, then save us.

In fact, his exact old English words, in his own words, were something very similar.

He said, If this will not to do, in other words, if this is the life you don't want me to live, the Lord have mercy upon us.

Several weeks later, the Greyhound had made its way little by little to the shores.

Newton, at 23 years old, who had accomplished all that life would deem success, had committed himself entirely to stepping out of the marketplace, out of his wealth, out of the slave trade, and into the ministry, where he became a humble servant of the Lord.

More than being known for his ministry, he's known for being an abolitionist.

This one great slave trader would eventually become one of the forefathers of abolishing slavery.

This man who had made a wealth, an early lifetime wealth off of the lives of slaves was now giving his own life for their lives.

December 24th, 1772.

Nearly three decades removed from this moment.

As John Newton prepared for his Christmas Eve vigil, he closed his eyes, and his mind's eye was flooded with these memories.

When he opened his eyes, he took his pen and putting pen to paper, he wrote these words.

Amazing grace.

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Was blind, but now I see.

When questioned in front of the courts, he'll be asked, How did this happen to you?

And he said, All I know is I was blind, but now I see.

John Newton's amazing grace is written because of this text that we're going to study together today.

Jesus, prior to this, is in Jerusalem at the temple for the Festival of Tabernacles.

I encourage you to go back and watch the last several weeks of our sermons.

Go to our YouTube page.

Make sure you check out the message from last week and the week before where we studied, where Jesus declared that he is the light of the world.

And the week before that, Jesus is the living water.

And you'll learn the context and the culture and the history and the heritage of the festival of tabernacles.

But what you need to know now is that on the back end of this festival, where there's hundreds of thousands and maybe even more than a million people who have gathered together from as far as the eye can see, and they have swollen the town of Jerusalem, which typically would have about 20,000 to 40,000 inhabitants.

It's now overrun and overwhelmed by people.

Jesus leaves the temple in a radical manner.

Jesus encounters the religious elite.

There are multiple religious sects during Jesus' time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, who comprise the Sanhedrin.

And then you've got the zealots, the Essenes, and the Herodians.

As Jesus is challenging the script, as Jesus is teaching, as Jesus is healing, as Jesus is ministering, as Jesus is building relationships, these religious elites become so outraged at what Jesus is doing and who Jesus is reaching and how he's doing it, that together, collectively, they begin to gather stones and look to kill Jesus right there at the temple.

Jesus will flee the temple, and this is where we pick up what we read, John chapter 9, beginning in verse 1.

John 9 · chapter mention

As he, Jesus 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?

This is an unbelievable superstition that is couched in biblical accuracy.

This is what's known as retributive justice, where if you go all the way back to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 7, as part of the Ten Commandments, you shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

Don't make any graven images, don't take the Lord's name in vain.

Honor your father and mother.

Keep the Sabbath.

Don't murder, don't lie, don't steal, don't commit adultery, and don't commit covetousness toward your neighbor's possessions.

A part of what is written in there is this understanding that if you do these things, that there will be generational sin inherent with the offender that commits these egregious acts, that to the second and third generation the sins of the forefathers would be carried over.

And so perpetuated from this is a superstitious idea that anyone who has an ailment, anyone who has an infirmity, has either sinned or someone in their family has sinned.

To be more specific, to be born with an infirmity like this, there is a false theology that had been perpetuated in the first century and thereafter, known as perinatal sin.

In other words, that in utero, before ever being conceived and being born, that that fetus, as it's growing, that gestational period of up to 40 weeks as it's being grown in the womb, that it can commit some egregious sinful act.

So they believe that whatever sinful act that that baby committed in the womb would have led to God's punishment, retributive justice at the point of birth.

Now we know that that is complete garbage.

We know that specifically because Jesus came and he restored all things to all people.

Do we still deal with generational sin?

Yes, but not as a byproduct of God's judgment or punishment on us, but because of the influence of our family and our forefathers.

There are generational curses.

We do have to recognize them.

We do have to repent from them, and we do have to move in the direction that God is calling us to.

And unfortunately, the things that we do typically are inherently passed down to our children, but not because of God's judgment as much as because of the patterns or behaviors that we have set in place for our children.

As the disciples and Jesus are walking out from the temple, they see this man born blind, and the disciples in their query say, Lord, who is it that send?

Was it this man or his family?

Jesus does something incredible.

He moves from cause or causation and to purpose.

Watch this.

Verse 3.

Jesus answered.

It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

This moves from cause or causation into purpose.

Maybe what this man is going through has nothing to do with ramifications for his behavior or the behaviors of others in his life.

Maybe, perhaps, God, in his infinite wisdom and sovereignty, has allowed, even created a space where this individual could experience this plight, knowing full well that God was going to redeem it, restore him, and use it for his good and God's glory.

We should look at that very intentionally because too often one of the superstitions that I've found that people, and I'll be honest, I have adopted over a lifetime, is that when something bad happens in our lives, it is God's judgment, retributive justice on our lives.

Now, I would be remiss if I sat here or rather stood here and told you that that could not be the case because we do see evidences throughout the Old Testament and even into the new where this does happen.

But friends, can I be really candid with you this morning and tell you that often the things that we believe are God's retributive justice in our lives are really just a byproduct of our stupidity?

It's not God's judgment on us, it's the consequence of our choices.

And as we make these choices, we look at it and say, Oh God, you're doing this to me because of some evil that I did.

This is not inherently who God is.

From Genesis 3 until the very end of the Bible, the meta-narrative of the whole word of God is the will of God, and that's restoration.

From the fall of man, God instituted restoration.

Jesus takes what these men thought was cause or causation, and he says, Hold on, guys, you're about to see something.

It's not a cause or a causation, it's a purpose.

God allowed this for his purpose.

Let me remind you: the Bible tells us in Romans that God works together all things for the good of those who believe, who've been called according to his good will's purpose, and plan.

So whatever you're dealing with this morning, if you've been living with this superstitious lie that says that whatever you're dealing with is because you lack faith or you have somehow Malachi has been so bastardized and taken out of context that there's sin in your camp, that if you're not blessed, I mean these televangelists make a killing off of lying and manipulating the people on television, saying that if you just sow a seed that your God's gonna multiply and they're gonna shake up and it's gonna pour out and open the doors of heaven and see, don't test me in this and see if I don't.

I mean, listen to me.

And then when it doesn't happen the way that this televangelist says it does, and you write in and you want to know why am I still being uh dealt this hand of infirmity, why are things still difficult in my life?

Their response is, well, then you must not have enough faith or you must have sin in the camp.

If you have ever believed that lie, that is a complete lie.

That is not who God is or how God works.

That is taking scripture so far out of context, compromising the orthodoxy of the word and work of God for the personal benefits of sinful, flawed man.

So Jesus said it's not about the cause or causation, it's about a purpose.

Look at this, verse 4.

We must work hard, the works of him who sent me while it is day.

Night is coming when no one can work.

Jesus is doing a couple of things here.

One, he's preparing them for the work that they will do when Jesus sends them out two by two into the communities to minister and meet the needs of the community.

Jesus is preparing them when he's getting ready to send them out in Matthew 28, which Josh alluded to as we're sending off our nests on the Alcantarras when the Great Commission.

Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is preparing them for what he will leave, his parting words in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 when he says, But as for you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaritan to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Jesus is saying, buckle up.

Ministry is going to be about all of us collectively together.

That's why he says, We.

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day.

Remember, if you were here last week, I talked about motifs in the Bible and that there is light and darkness referred to life and death.

This is a continuation of that motif where he, by day, we're talking about Jesus Christ in the light and the life that he brings.

The reference here to darkness, look at this.

Night is coming on the back end of verse 4.

Night is coming when no one can work.

This is actually a prophetic word about his arrest and ultimately his crucifixion.

He'll be arrested at night, and he'll be crucified at night.

And in the darkness will lead to his death.

But God.

Look at verse 5.

As long as I'm in this world, I'm the light of the world.

Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva.

Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Go wash in the pool in the mud and said to him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent.

So he went and washed and came back seen.

A couple of things.

One, one of the most theologically sound pieces of advice I'm going to give you this morning is this.

Ew.

That's capital E, followed by capital W W exclamation point.

What is happening here?

This is a mind-blowing to me.

Do you remember the centurion who comes to Jesus and says, Lord, I've got a kid who's sick.

If you would just say a word, he'll be healed.

And what does Jesus do?

He just speaks.

He says, It is as you said.

And he's healed.

This is Jesus who who just just by the the mere snap of a finger, the clap of a hand, the speaking of a word, when he goes to Lazarus in the empty or to the tomb and he calls to him.

He doesn't move back the rock, he doesn't go in and grab his body, and he literally just calls out, Lazarus, Lazarus, come out.

Jesus doesn't need to do this, this spitting on the ground and making what.

So why does he do this?

There are two things that theologians have discussed, debated, and arrived at.

But the second part is actually really unique.

He's gonna use it to meet the minds of the religious leaders.

By spitting on the ground on the Sabbath and making this mud, this saliva and dirt, create mud or clay and putting it on this man's eyes.

It's an act of work.

We'll touch on that in a moment.

Here's something I do think is really a unique thing that we need to look at.

Whenever we think about anointing, we typically think about oiling the head or oil running down the face and dripping off of the beard as a beautiful perfume that's being uh set apart for something really unique.

The word that he used here, then he anointed the man's eyes with spit and dirt.

This is a very intentional use of this word.

It ties Jesus and the commissioning.

That's what we use anointing for so often is healing, commissioning, uh sanctification, setting apart.

In this moment, he is anointing this man's eyes in one of the most unique ways, which that's really important to understand because he may be getting ready to work in your life in a really unique way.

In a way that you are not looking for and maybe not even ready for.

This blind man wasn't looking for it.

He didn't even see Jesus coming.

And I promise you, he wasn't expecting it.

He was expecting to go to the optometrist or the ophthalmologist and have them check the pressure in his eyes and dilate his eyes and do all the things.

He was not expecting.

Oh, you guys caught that pastor joke.

He was not expecting Jesus to meet his needs this way.

Where does Jesus want to work in your life that you're not ready for or expecting?

You're not even paying attention to.

Maybe this is your wake-up call this morning.

So he said, go to the pool of Siloam.

Oh, this is a double entendre.

The pool of Siloam from the Gihon Spring that had been carved out from Hezekiah through a tunnel, bringing fresh water into Jerusalem that was only known for stagnant water, that was used for the water libation, that was used for sacrificial, getting ready for the sacrifices, that was used for cleansing.

Now this w this water is also sent.

And Jesus says, Go to this pool Siloam, which means sent in the original language.

He is sending this man, and he is referring to the fact that Jesus is the one who is sent to us.

It's a beautiful, beautiful imagery there.

In verse 8, the neighbors and those who had seen him, the beggar, the blind man, before as a beggar were saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

Some said, It is he.

Others said, No, it looks like him.

He kept saying, I am the man.

Ego a me.

Just like Jesus, I am Ego Ami, the light of the world.

It's a declaration.

That's me.

And so they said to him, Then how were your eyes opened?

And he answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam, or sent and wash.

So I went and washed and received my sight.

They said to him, Where is he?

And he said, I do not know.

Go back to verse 11.

He answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash.

If you have the ability to highlight, underline, itoly size, circle, whatever you need to do, circle these words.

So I went.

Maybe you're not experiencing the fullness of Jesus and your faith and your life because you're not willing to go where he's calling you.

Jesus may have made it so crystal clear to you, for you, that he's got something that he wants to do in you and for you.

He's just asking you to go, and you're sitting there in obstinence or in ignorance or in blindness or in bliss or in compromisation or in active sin.

Because, friends, when we think about sin, we think about all the things we're not supposed to do.

But there is a sin called omission where when Jesus calls you to do something and you don't do it, it is equally as sinful as murdering someone.

Where is Jesus calling you to go?

What is he calling you to give up?

Who is he calling you to talk to?

What is Jesus asking you to do for the good of others and for the glory of God that brings magnification to his name that you are refusing to do?

If that is you, you are in sin this morning.

You're not too busy, you're just being ignorant.

You're not unconvinced, you're just being obstinate.

Jesus calls and you go.

How else can you explain an organ duck preaching on an Ohio stage?

Buckeye stage.

Are you sure, Lord?

Go.

Go where?

To the land of milk and honey?

No, to peanut butter and chocolate.

Oh H.

Listen to me.

I don't want to, I don't want to lose sight of the significance of this moment in light of the humor that I just made.

If you are not doing what God is calling you to do right now, then you are living in sin.

So what do we do?

What do we do with this?

Verse 13.

They brought the Pharisees, the man who had formerly been blind.

Now, it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

Hold on to that.

So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight.

And he said to them, But you put mud on my eyes and washed, and I see.

Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he doesn't keep the Sabbath.

What is he referring to?

In the Mishnah, there is a extra biblical text.

It's God and, or the Word of God plus, where traditions of the Pharisees were written in script and expected to be obligations.

Specifically, what they're referring to are 39 prohibitions that pertain to the Sabbath.

What is the Sabbath?

The Sabbath is a designated day of rest.

Now, culturally, historically, it's been Sunday, but Jesus came as Lord over the Sabbath or Lord of the Sabbath.

So the Sabbath for us, we'll get into this sermon at some point, has to do with choosing God over the things of this world and choosing to rest rather than repeat and looking to God for his love in our lives and worshiping that.

And there's so much that the Sabbath is, but they were more concerned about what the Sabbath wasn't.

Of the 39 things that they wrote, there were actually laws about spitting.

How many steps you could take, what you could touch, what you couldn't touch, what you could wash, what you couldn't wash.

One of the rules was no kneading of ground.

In other words, no plowing, no preparing the soil.

They believed that when Jesus spit on the dirt and he created mud, that he was actually working just like you would to prepare for a harvest.

How stupid is that?

If that's all it took, I would go spit on my grass this afternoon.

It'd be miracle growth.

I had the best-looking lawn in my neighborhood.

Instead, I can't figure out how to grow my grass in this state.

I'm going to apply for a grant and I'm just gonna lay turf front and back.

It's gonna be great.

They wanted to bring Jesus up on charges for working on the Sabbath.

Do you know that as part of their ritual, if a if a if a child or an individual broke a bone on the Sabbath, unless it was life-threatening, it couldn't be set until the next day.

They care more about their rituals and their rights than they do the relationship or the righteous.

How insane is that?

And before we're quick to judge, I want us to continue to think about in our own minds, I what are the rituals, what are the rites, what are the things that we care more about than we do a relationship with Jesus or being in right standing with him?

What are the traditions that we hold on to?

I've had people recently talk about how I dress on stage.

And it sounds silly, right?

Of all the things we could talk about, somebody uh had actually asked why one Sunday I'll wear a dress shirt, the next Sunday I'll wear a sweatshirt.

You want to know why?

I know somebody does.

Our church on any given Sunday morning has over 3,000 people that gather across all of our campuses and online.

We have one of the most unique ministries that I've ever seen.

We have uh an urban campus right here in Mansfield.

We've got a suburban capins, actually, two of them in Ontario at our classic campus and our uh at our Ontario campus.

And then 25 miles to the south, we've got, hey, it's okay.

If that were my granddaughter and you look back, I promise you, it's okay.

I I love that families are here.

I'm I'm grateful that families are here.

We've got a an a rural campus in Waterford where there are more horse and buggies than there are people.

I'm not lying, there's like 200 people in the village of Waterford.

Okay, so across all of our campuses, we are multi-ethnic, multi-generational, uh, we have multiple backgrounds.

And and and and here's what I want to do.

I want to be able to give credibility to the ministry before I ever say a word.

So when I preach to the young folks, I don't dress like this.

I don't dress like them.

I'm better looking than all of them anyway, but I dress, I dress to, let me say this, I dress intentionally to eliminate distractions, but also to let everybody know that they're welcome here.

And so if they see that their pastor is wearing a hoodie up on stage, it's not to, it's not to defile the sanctity of worship or the word of God, but I want to be really clear, God cares about what's on the in inside of our hearts and not what's on the outside of man.

And if you want to know why I wear sport coats periodically, it's because whenever I wear a light-colored shirt, I sweat so bad in my armpits that these sport coats cover up the sweat pits.

All right?

Good.

So now you don't have to ask others, you can just know why I wear different things.

Back to the Bible.

As they're there talking about this, they're asking this man, How is this possible?

You know what he said?

I don't know.

Verse 15.

The Pharisees again asked him how he received the sight, and he said, He put mud on my eyes and he watched, and I see.

Rather than celebrating this man's victory, rather than celebrating this man's healing, rather than celebrating what God has done in this man's life, they care more about cursing Christ than they do about celebrating the supernatural.

What is our problem, people?

That when we see other people receive good things, rather than being genuinely excited for them, we are resentful because we are thinking we think somehow we're more deserving of it than them.

I mean, that's probably not true of any of you, but if I'm being honest, I've thought that.

I've compared in my life to others and what I do and the work I put in and the way that I live my life, and I think accordingly, I am entitled to that thing.

I should experience what they have to experience.

Why do they get to go on vacation every other month?

Why do they have to get to drive that that that car?

Why do they get to live there?

Why do they get to you know work out the same amount of time I work out, and yet their genetics allow them to look like the incredible Hulk and I'm the incredible bulk?

I don't know.

But I think at least for me, it's it's it's really uh unfortunately too natural to compare.

And instead of celebrating the works that God is doing, we tend to compete and even be upset that we aren't being blessed, maybe the same way.

And we're seeing this real time here.

Verse 18, the Jews didn't believe what had happened to this blind man had received his sight until they called his parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, Is this your son?

Who do you say was born blind?

How does he now see?

And his parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

We don't know how he sees, nor do we know how or who opened his eyes.

Ask him.

He's of age, he'll speak for himself.

In parentheses, his parents said these things because they feared the Jews, specifically the Pharisees.

For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

Apostle synagogos.

Therefore, his parents said, He is of age, ask him.

Let me explain one, two things.

One, these are terrible parents.

You imagine the first time your kid sees you and you say, Yeah, that's our kid, but it's not our problem.

What?

And two, they're more concerned about their own comfort than they are the supernatural work of God in their son's life.

They're more concerned about their own comfort than they are the supernatural work of God in their child's life.

The Sanhedrin, this ruling body that was two-thirds the Sadducees and one-third Pharisees, they had this statement that went out that said if anybody professes Christ, they're gonna be kicked out of community.

Apostynagogos, excommunicated.

Which means that they can't go to the synagogue to worship, and they would be so reviled by the most important people that they would have all ties cut off from them, including familial ties.

In most instances, historically recorded, these individuals who experienced excommunication from the synagogue had to leave their community, had to leave their home, had to leave the people they knew because no one would associate with them.

They were not allowed to do business in the community.

They lost everything.

These parents were more concerned about the comforts of their confines than they were about the supernatural work of Christ in their life.

And I wonder, friends, as I read this in my own life, I have to ask myself, am I more worried about the comfort of my life than I am the call of Christ in my life?

Am I more worried about the comforts on my life than I am the call of Christ in my life?

What am I not doing because I'm afraid of what others will say?

What am I not doing because I'm afraid of what others will do?

What am I not doing because of what it may mean for me or where I need to go or what I need to give up?

That's what these parents are dealing with.

Yeah, that's our kid.

But ask him, he's of age.

He's an adult, probably in his 30s.

We know that because the age of accountability through barmitzos and bamits was 13, the age of military man was 30, and this man being at the beautiful gate or outside the gate, maybe the eastern gate or the water gate or wherever he was was there to collect alms.

He would have been an adult.

Historically, it would have been an adult.

They're saying, let him answer for himself.

In other words, he can pay his own bail.

We're not gonna bail him out.

Awesome.

Thanks, mom.

So the second time, verse 24, they called the blind man and they said to him, Give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner.

He answered.

Whether he's a sinner, I don't know.

One thing I do know, I was blind and now I see.

That is the most important, powerful testimony that the world will ever know.

It's not what you know, it's your story.

It's your story.

The story of who you were before Jesus, who you are now in Jesus, and the guarantee of who you will become because of Jesus.

That's what this man says.

I'm not a theologian like you.

I'm not learned, I'm not studied, I'm not, I don't have a script to follow.

Listen to me, all I know is that this morning I woke up blind, I had to be assisted outside the temple so I could beg for money.

That's how I made a living.

And this guy named Jesus came down, he spit on the ground, made mud, and he put it on my eyes, told me to go to the pool of Siloam, which means, and guess what?

Now I see.

What a powerful testimony.

How often do we share our testimony with others?

Oh, we'll share all of our personal opinions about politics and professional sports and other people.

Don't get me started on how y'all aren't starting Dylan Gabriel this year, an Oregon quarterback.

Listen to me.

We have a lot of things to say about things that don't matter.

But how often do you share your testimony, your story of who you were before Jesus, who you are now in Jesus, and the guarantee of who you'll become because of Jesus?

This man said, I don't know what you want from me.

I woke up this morning blind, guess what?

I'm not.

As they're talking to him.

Verse 26 says, They said to him, What did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes?

And he answered them, I've told you already.

This is the third time they've heard this now.

I've told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you want to become his disciples?

Oh, I love this.

My man.

Rhetorical question with a bit of sarcasm at their expense.

He knows that they're not interested in Jesus or to become a disciple of Jesus.

He literally, I mean, he just he lays it on them and he lays it on thick.

Do you want to be his disciple too?

Crazy.

Verse 28.

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 don't know where he comes from.

The man answered, Well, this is amazing.

You don't know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

One.

Two, we know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone's a worshiper of God and does any uh does his will, God listens to him.

Two.

Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

Three.

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

He used their own rhetoric, their own intellect, their own theology, their own understandings, and their own beliefs.

He laid it out right in front of them.

Four-point argument.

We know that God doesn't use sinners like this.

He doesn't listen to them like that.

We know that it is only God and God alone who heals.

We know that I was blind and now I see.

And we we're sitting here saying that this isn't, this Jesus isn't of God.

How does that make sense?

Is this circumstantial theology?

Does it only apply when you want it to, when it works in your favor?

That's literally what he's doing.

This is a brilliant apologetic tool, right here.

Apologetic simply means knowing what you believe, why you believe what you believe, and being able to being able to articulate it to somebody else.

And he said, Let me explain this.

Four parts.

This is amazing.

You don't know where it comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

You don't know that God got you do know that God listens not to sinners, but if anyone worships God, he does his will, he listens to them.

And never since the world began has anyone opened the eyes of a man except God.

And if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

They answered him, You were born in utter sin, perinatal sin.

And you would teach us, and they cast him out.

They cared more about their traditions than they did the truth.

Jesus heard, this is probably my favorite part of this entire story, by the way.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out.

And having found the blind man, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?

And he answered, Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?

And Jesus said to him, You've seen him, and it is he who's speaking to you.

He said, Lord, I believe.

And he worshipped him.

And Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind?

And Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would not have guilt.

But now that you now that you say we see, your guilt remains.

Friends, there are so much to unpack in this.

We don't have the time that I would like for us to unpack this, but there are some things that I do want us to see.

Truth over tradition is what we're wrestling with in this text.

The man is kicked out.

I want you to put yourself in his position for a moment.

The best and worst day of your life.

Think about the mixture of emotions.

I can see, but my parents don't want anything to do with me.

I've been healed, but now I've been excommunicated, not only from the synagogue, but from the entire community.

The best day of my life, the one thing I've wanted more than anything to see the forest green trees and the clear blue skies.

I can see.

But everything that's ever been familiar to me is gone and taken away from me.

Feels a bit like a storm, doesn't it?

Do you know what I love in this moment?

The man didn't know who Jesus was.

Oh, he had encountered Jesus.

He'd had an encounter with Jesus, but he wasn't looking for it.

But you know what's amazing?

In this man's storm, Jesus went searching for him.

The Bible says Jesus sought him out.

Jesus searched for him.

Jesus found him.

You need to hear this this morning.

I don't know what storm you are in the middle of, but here's what you need to know.

As a matter of fact, Jesus sees you, Jesus hears you, and Jesus is searching for you.

The question is, are you humble enough to say, Where are you, Lord, that I might know you and worship you?

Where are you, Lord, that I might know you and worship you?

And Jesus said, It's me.

And this man, you know what he does?

He says, Lord, I believe.

And some of you, you need to be like the centurion who says, Lord, I believe, but help me in my unbelief.

Lord, I believe, but help me in my unbelief.

In the moments of frailty, in the moments where I'm fragile, in the moments where I'm vulnerable, in the moments where I'm broken, in the moments where I'm hurting and I'm questioning, where are you?

Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.

What's the storm of your life today?

Maybe you are not in the middle of a storm, but you're waiting for the next shoe to fall because, like this community.

They have this superstition that you believe that all bad things come in threes.

You ever heard that stupidity before?

Don't walk underneath the ladder.

Watch out for black cats.

All the other rhetoric and foolishness and stupidity.

If you're here with theological stupidity, here's what you need to do.

The Lord is calling you.

He says, Do you want to know who heals you?

Do you want to know who's pursuing you?

Do you want to know who loves you?

Do you want to know who saves you?

Do you want to know who redeems you?

Do you want to know who restores you?

Do you want to know who can restore your marriage?

Do you want to know who can restore your finances?

Do you want to know who can restore your body?

Then look, I'm right in front of you.

And he's waiting for us to say, Lord, I believe.

And you know what this man does?

As soon as he understands who Jesus is, proscu nail.

Proscu nail.

Look at me.

I'm dignified.

He does this.

Yes, Lord, I believe.

He falls to his face in adoration and worship.

It drives him to his face.

We've come to church so nonchalantly, comfortably, and we say, I hope I get something from the pastor's message today.

I hope I like the songs.

I hope nobody's sitting in my seat.

God help me if you're in my parking spot.

Monica sang a song about the Jesus that we call on.

That there is no other name, the name like Jesus that is above every other name.

And you know what breaks my heart, friends?

I'm not trying to condemn you.

I'm just I'm just confused.

Ryan Day didn't save you.

Trestle didn't save you.

Your boss didn't save you.

Your wife didn't save you.

Your kids aren't gonna save you.

There is no other name like the name of Jesus who saves.

And you know, here's what I saw.

Here's what I saw, church.

There is no other name.

There is no other name.

There is no other name.

How much longer is this song?

When you recognize Jesus for who he is and who you are because of him, how can you not proscu nail?

How can you not fall down in worship?

Do you understand the ramifications of being born a sinner?

Eternally cut off from God because of your brokenness and sin?

Wretched, filthy rags.

Your very best is like dung.

And God says, But I see you, I pursue you, I love you, I restore you, I redeem you.

In me, you are a new creation.

Oh God, thank you for saving me.

How do we not proscune or fall down and worship?

Me?

God, you chose me?

You chose a 16-year-old high school dropout with a daughter who is running with gangs, stealing cars, selling drugs, having sex, fighting anything that was in front of me, living off the streets of inner city Portland.

And if you're not familiar with inner city Portland, I want you to think of the worst parts of Cleveland or Columbus, and I guarantee you it's all of that, and then some.

That's my story.

That God saw me in the depths of my depravity, in the middle of my brokenness, and he pulled me out and he redeemed me and he restored me, but he did it through somebody's act of obedience.

God sent Bob and Shauna Anderson and said, Go invite him into your home.

They adopted me and they gave me an opportunity.

They went, they went on a limb.

They had four kids nine, seven, three, and one.

And they brought in a known gang affiliate.

A high school dropout.

I went to four high schools in one year.

Four! Because of fighting and bad grades.

And they saw me, and Jesus used them to pursue me.

And I am here in front of you today because of that story.

And all I can do is prosper nail, fall down on my face and say, Lord, you saw me, you chose me.

And guess what?

Your story may be nothing like mine, but you're just as broken and separated from God because of your sin.

And God, in the same way and the same manner of speaking, saves you and your soul.

How can you not fall down and worship?

Oh, church, three things I want to leave you with, and then we're gonna worship.

Just quickly, bear with me.

I wrote them down so you can see them.

Grace pursues us in our storms.

That's the first thing amazing grace does is grace pursues us in our storms.

I don't know what storm you're in the middle of right now, but I want you to know this.

Grace is pursuing you.

God is pursuing you.

You just may not even recognize it.

So then ask, Lord, where are you working in my life that I might see you and believe?

Grace pursues you.

The second is grace rewrites your story.

Grace rewrites your story, who you were, who you are, and who you will be.

Grace is rewriting your story.

Grace is rewriting your story.

You're not divorced, you're restored.

You're not sick, you're restored.

You're not broke, you're restored.

Oh, I don't care what the ledger says, I don't care what the doctor says.

I'm telling you what eternity says.

Jesus says, You are restored and renewed.

Grace is rewriting your story.

And finally, grace leads you to surrender.

Grace leads you to surrender.

Where do you need to surrender in your life today?

Maybe, maybe the question is, who do you need to surrender to?

You might be here this morning and you say, I've never known God like that.

I need to surrender to Jesus today.

Please, friends, if you don't know Jesus as your Savior and you're like the blind beggar outside the temple, I want you to invite Jesus.

Lord, I believe.

That's what the Bible says.

Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

For others, for others, it's time for you to step out in obedience, in active obedience, and go where he's calling you to go and do what he's calling you to do.

Like the Alcantara family, join them on a journey.

Who is God calling you to?

Where is God calling you to go?

What's God calling you to do?

And today it's time for you to stop living so passively, to stop living in sins of omission where you know, like you know, like you know that God's calling you to something or to someone, but you're just not doing it.

Trust and obey.

There's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but trust and obey in Jesus' name.