The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:01 John 9 a very unique um passage if you look at the whole book
00:07 of John it's unique because the whole story is beautiful uh and it um John
00:15 describes spiritual lessons by use of a rhetorical technique called irony. It's
00:20 very ironic. The one who blind actually sees and the one who sees actually become blind if you look at all the
00:26 subtleties inside this passage. So the three points I want to make this morning very simple. One, we all start off
00:32 spiritually blind. Two, life begins when we let his light in and judgment comes
00:37 when we keep his light out. Very simple points but yet profound in this particular passage. We all start off
00:44 spiritually blind. Now as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. Disciples
00:49 asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" So here we actually have a situation
00:55 where a man is born blind. never ever seen light in his entire life. And so
01:02 therefore, this is a parable within a set of u events where John specifically
01:10 picks. And unless if you just focus on the story itself, you're going to miss a whole bunch of things. So you need to
01:16 look at the gospel of John. Gospel of John starts off in chapter one when he
01:21 describes in the beginning was the word and word was God with God and then you
01:27 read in him was life and the life was the light of men. See in Jesus Christ is
01:34 life is eternal life. Uh and this life is the light of men and the true light
01:40 who gives light to everyone was coming to the world. sort of the the chapter one the first 18 verses sets the stage
01:47 it's called the prologue it's called the introduction and from this you jump off at the various themes in the book of
01:52 John and then you've got chapter three uh and after the u famous verse of where
01:58 for God so loved the world it comes in 19 to 21 and this the judgment the light has come into the world the people love
02:04 the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil for everyone who does wicked things hates
02:10 the light and doesn't come to the light lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the
02:16 light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. So here you actually have two kinds
02:23 of people. The light comes to the world. The light is the life of man. And then
02:29 there are two kinds of people. Those who accept the light and those who don't accept the light. Right? Then you've got
02:36 John chapter 8 where Jesus stands up and tells people uh that I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not
02:42 walk in darkness but who but will have light in life. And then only you come in
02:48 a nice parable at the end which will actually put into practical dimensions
02:55 what this idea of light and darkness which John is actually alluding to. So here we have the last um festival the
03:03 tab tabernacle of the lights. You've got uh tabernacle of the feast of tabernacles. You've got the boots to
03:09 remind people that they are living in the wilderness in the past. They will sacrifice 70 bulls to remind people that
03:15 sin has to be atoned for. There'll be daily trumpets. They'll collect the water. And Jesus is the uh the water of
03:22 life. And then every night there'll be a torch parade and the temple be lit up.
03:28 And it is here where Jesus tells people that I am the light of life. I am the
03:35 light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Now with that
03:41 statement then you launch into John chapter nine. There are two kinds of
03:46 people there and one is a blind man who sees light and the other one a whole
03:52 bunch of Pharisees who are seeing but become blind. They are both metaphors
03:59 for spiritual blindness. That means they're symbols. Okay. And they actually
04:04 uh the whole idea is how do you actually respond to the light? Here's a practical example. How do you respond to light?
04:10 Here you have a picture of the blind man who is a uh he's never seen light in his life. He lives in a dimension. Imagine
04:17 most of you will dream at night, right? Who doesn't dream? He must be blind.
04:24 Do you know blind people when they dream they don't actually dream in figures? All they do is touch. has been shown
04:30 that they don't dream like you. When you see something, they don't see anything. It's it's different. And when they
04:35 become seeing, then the the dream slowly change. You live in an entire dimension of life where all you do is actually
04:41 feel. You never see the light. And it is a terrible situation. Uh and they hardly
04:47 ever cured. He's never seen the light. He's totally helpless. Never been in the temple because blind people aren't
04:53 allowed in the temple. He's totally ostracized, cast out. He cannot earn a
04:58 living. Uh here is uh verse 8. The neighbors and those that seen him before
05:03 as a beggar was saying is this not the man who used to sit and beg. The entire
05:09 dimension of life is is over. He cannot be a doctor. He cannot be a scientist. Cannot be a teacher. He can only beg for
05:16 a living and he's sitting outside. That's where he is. And this is actually a picture of spiritual blindness where
05:23 we cannot actually see life. We only experience a dimension of life where we only we can't even dream. We cannot even
05:30 imagine. Imagine that spiritual life is so beyond us that we can't even imagine
05:36 what spiritual life is like. And this is a picture of spiritual blindness. Okay? And the disciples as uh he passed by he
05:44 saw a man blind from birth. The disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned?
05:49 This man or his parents or was he born blind?" Imagine this guy is begging for
05:54 all his life and you walk past and the first thing you ask, hey, this is a theological issue. No, see this guy, you
06:00 see blind? Why didn't you think he's blind? You think his father, mother did dirty, horrible things? Or, you know,
06:07 did he do dirty horrible things? It reminds me of this picture taken in Italy a few days ago. Here you have some
06:13 poor woman who's run over by a train or something and our friend is taking a selfie,
06:19 right? He's taking a selfie because he's trying to chronicle this event. I was there when they ran over this woman. Don't know whether she's dead or alive.
06:25 Who cares? Here we actually have heartless disciples walking past this
06:30 poor man who's been blind. The first question they ask, you know, why was he theoretical question? Why was he blind?
06:36 Is it because he sinned or because their parents sinned? All right. Jesus
06:41 answered, it's not that this man sinned or his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
06:49 Okay. So this whole question of sin and suffering the the first thing that that you note whenever you you got an
06:55 illness, okay, in the Old Testament in that time, the first thing they'll think
07:00 is that you have sin, okay? They're not like this church, you come here and then you got sin. You tell Chuch Chang and
07:06 they'll pray for you. The moment you say you got sin, you you're sick, it means ah what did he do? So you got a catalog
07:14 of sinners and they printed in our bulleted. Some of you don't even want to tell us you're you're sick because you
07:19 think we'll think you're a sinner, right? So, so, so there's this idea of specific sin with specific suffering.
07:24 And there is evidence that happens. You've got Miriam who crits who rebellion against uh Moses in Numbers 12
07:30 and she was hit with leprosy. You've got the invalid in chapter 5 and he was paralyzed for life and that he had some
07:37 sort of sin. You've got the Corinthians who disrespected the Lord's supper and they had illness and death. And then
07:43 you've got sin due to genetic solidarity uh that's been passed on actually
07:48 because of uh something of the parents. Now after that Jesus found him in the temple and say this is John chapter 5
07:55 see that you sin no more. This is the man who's a paralytic. So there is this idea of sin related to illness. That's
08:02 why when Job was ill and sin and he's scrubbing off all this skin disease that
08:07 he had his friends came to encourage him. Ah you're sick because you sin. So
08:12 he felt so encouraged with that. Um but in this particular case it was he
08:17 thought that this man sinned or his parents s but that the works of God might be displayed in him. Now is this
08:26 purpose or result? The theologians are all arguing was this man made blind by
08:31 God in order that he may glorify him or the fact that actually Jesus is actually
08:39 avoiding the question. He's not saying why he's born blind. He's just saying as a result of being born blind, I could
08:46 use this result and glorify God. Now you look at theologians, they are divided
08:51 either way. Uh if you look at purpose, God is sovereign. When the Lord said to
08:56 him, uh who has made man's mouth, who has made him mute or death or seeing or
09:02 blind? Is it not I? Says the Lord. Psalm 139:13, if you form my inward parts, you
09:08 knitted me together in my mother's womb. And so when you knitted this man, you forgot to give him eyes. So that could
09:16 be a case made for that. Uh and then you got John 11 uh which I preached in Easter. So the sisters sent this talking
09:22 about Lazarus, the one whom you love is ill. And Jesus heard it. He says, "This ill does not lead to death. It is for
09:28 the glory of God so that the son of God may be glorified through it." So the
09:33 death of Lazarus through this illness was actually used or designed so that
09:39 Jesus would gain glory by healing him or raising him from the dead. Now the
09:44 moment you say this people will react. Oprah Winfrey he demands that he and no
09:50 one else gets our highest allegiance and affection. It didn't sound very loving to her and she says God is jealous.
09:55 Didn't feel right. Right. What about Brad Pitt? I don't understand this idea of God who says you have to acknowledge
10:01 me. You have to say I'm the best and I'll give you eternal happiness. If you won't, then you don't get it. It seems
10:07 about ego. I can't see God operating from ego. So, it's made no sense to me and he's not really a Christian.
10:14 When you say it's for the glory of God, people get a bit the shift in their seats a wee bit. This
10:21 is a Canadian man by the name of uh Pierre Paul uh Thomas, blind from birth.
10:29 One day he was going down the stairs and he you know going downstairs for blind
10:34 man not easy. So he fell down. When he fell down he fractured the orbital bones
10:40 around his eyes and uh he was rushed to hospital and then the doctors noticed he
10:45 had a congenital condition where his eyes were swinging back and forth called the stagmas and as well there were
10:51 cataracts. Actually fall was a good thing. He fell and they actually
10:56 corrected the fractures and took up the cataracts at the first time in his life. He actually saw blind from birth. They
11:03 asked him you know you know you be suffering all this time you know what do you feel about it he said it's bad luck
11:10 but that's how it is bad luck in there his bad luck became good luck but you know why because he
11:15 fell down if he didn't fall down he wouldn't have seen right so so some people when they approach suffering they
11:21 say bad luck that's how it is uh if you're a Buddhist you'll say oh it's your fault but never mind it's not real
11:27 suffering is an illusion if you're a Hindu they say oh suffering is your fault Because of karma, you are now
11:34 suffering. Why? Because when you were young, you know, in your previous life, you did bad things. You stole a lot of
11:40 money. You embezzled money. If if you're an epicurion at a time, he says it's
11:45 nobody's fault, so don't worry about it. If you're a stoic, you say it's life. Deal with it. Find some meaning. And and
11:52 and we all have various responses to suffering, doesn't it? But here Jesus
11:57 says it is so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Suffering can
12:03 only have his ultimate meaning in relationship to God. You notice that
12:08 everything else doesn't make sense unless you link your suffering to some
12:14 work which God is going to work in your life. Otherwise, it's nothing. And in this particular case, Jesus answered,
12:20 "It's not this man sin or his parents, but that the works of God might be
12:25 displayed in him." We must work the works of him who sent me. Whether is day, night is coming, when no one can
12:32 work, as long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. Now, this has to be related to that. So, basically what
12:38 he's saying, when Jesus is in the world, it's like light. You can work. When Jesus is away, it's dark. There's less
12:46 light. As long as I'm in the world, I am the light. So basically, this is a a
12:52 phrase that actually is the key to interpretation. The works of God might be displayed. That Jesus might be
12:58 displayed that he is the light of the world. Therefore, he's blind with the result that this healing will show that
13:06 Jesus is the light of the world. All right? So, it is actually the glory of
13:11 God for the good of man. You see mankind lives in darkness and the light comes
13:17 into the world and the light is the life of man. If you reject the light you have no life. If you accept the light you
13:24 have life. So therefore why is God glorified? God is glorified so you could actually see that he is the one that you
13:32 need to go to that he is the light otherwise you remain in darkness. Is the same thing as uh fire extinguishers. Why
13:38 are they red? If you go to the airplane, exit is always red. Red is glorified,
13:45 isn't it? So everything is dark. You in an emergency, you reach for the red
13:51 because that will save your life. So Jesus is glorified and shown to be the light so that it actually saves us. It's
13:58 not about God's ego as Brad Pitt said. Here the then the next one are the Pharisees. All right. They brought the
14:05 uh Pharisees to the man to the Pharisees. The man who had formerly been blind. It was Sabbath day. And Jesus
14:11 made the mud and opened up his eyes. And the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them,
14:16 "He put mud in my eyes and I washed and I see." And some of the Pharisees says, "This man is not from God, for he does
14:22 not keep the Sabbath." All right? So the Pharisees weren't very believing. They
14:28 are perfectly normal people. They're theologically educated. the finest specimens you can find in the whole of
14:34 Israel but they couldn't see you know it's like this picture how many of you
14:40 actually see in the Mona Lisa up close a lot of people right you see this woman
14:46 everywhere you turn her eyes follow you and there's a little bit of a smile all right and you thought that was it but
14:53 all the time you can see but actually you really didn't see what they actually shown is using a new technique called
14:58 light amplification technique this professor Pascal Corte actually found there's two
15:04 Mona Lisa. There's another Mona Lisa which actually was painted right underneath this Mona
15:10 Lisa and Lisa Geraldino is the her name and she is a wife of a prominent silk
15:16 merchant in Italy. So you see but you don't actually see, isn't it? All right. So u these are the
15:24 Pharisees. They're actually also spiritually blind because they choose not to see. Jesus said for judgment I
15:30 came to this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. That is the predicament of those
15:38 who see and those who do cannot see. They are both spiritually blind. Now the
15:43 important thing is the response. Life begins when you let his life light in.
15:48 We must work the works of him who sent me for while it is day night is coming when no one can actually work. This
15:54 refers to the presence of Jesus. Now we must work of the work the works of him who sent me whether it is day night is
16:02 coming as long as I'm the world I'm the light of the world having said these things he spit on the ground made mud in
16:07 the saliva he anointed the man's eyes with mud and said to him go and wash the pole of silomme which means scent and he
16:14 went out and washed and came back seeing this is a bit strange isn't it right I
16:20 mean Jesus can snap his fingers you can see why he bother to spit and then make
16:26 mud and then put in your eyes then ask you to go to the pool and wash the pool
16:31 of Salem and then John brackets the pool of asylum. This pool is called what?
16:37 Scent. Ah, so you've got to look a little closer. Why? Now let's go back to
16:42 history. Now if you look in the map of Jerusalem, this Jerusalem surrounded by
16:48 ancient walls. All right. when people come and attack your country, the most
16:53 important supply because they don't have uh pipes in those days is what? Water,
16:59 isn't it? So, you got to have water. So, if you look down here is called the Guhon spring. And the Guihon spring,
17:05 what they do is actually flows through a tunnel. And if you look at this tunnel is called Hezekiah's tunnel, which he
17:12 built in the 700s, okay? uh all the way down and it goes onto the pool of Silomme and the run off into the pool of
17:19 David here. Okay. So whatever happened the city will always have water because
17:24 the pool of Saleom actually saves their lives. This is where it's actually built. If you go to uh Israel today uh
17:32 yeen did you go into this? Yeah. You go all the way to Israel. You don't go and see twice already. You know
17:40 too narrow. Okay. All right. Yeah. It is a it is a bit narrow. It is this is the the pool the the tunnel Hezekiah.
17:47 Anybody been the tunnel Hezekiah? When you go there, you got to go there because this is this is historically
17:52 important. It's actually engineering marvel and and and if you look at Psalms
17:57 and after that it comes out to this particular place where there's a pool of sh waters of uh the pool of Silom or the
18:04 waters of Shiloha. Okay. And and basically in those days Isaiah meets Ahaz the king and Ahaz the king is being
18:13 attacked by the Assyrians. He either gives in to Assyrians and follow them or he fights against them. And Isaiah is
18:19 telling him look you've got to trust God. You've got to rely on him. Don't rely on Assyrians. They will destroy
18:25 you. And so therefore he met Ahaz at the waters of uh Sylum here. And uh Ahaz had
18:34 no faith. It says just Isaiah said to just as you depend on this water, God
18:39 gave you this water. You must depend on God. You don't depend on the Assyrians. And what happened? If you look at
18:44 Psalms, there's a river. This is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most high.
18:51 God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her. When morning dawns, the nations rage, the
18:57 kingdoms totter her. He utters his voice. The earth melts. This is that little tunnel where it goes down to the
19:02 pool of Salem. You either accept God's help or you don't. And here in Isaiah,
19:07 the Lord spoke to me again. Ahaz refused the Lord's help. And what he said,
19:13 because these people have refused the water of Siloa that flows gently and rejoices over resin and the son of
19:19 Remalia. Therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the river mighty and many, the king of
19:26 Syria, and all his glory. It will rise over the channels and go over all the back. it will overflow and destroy you
19:31 and flood you out. Now with that background then you can see this is a
19:37 pool of Siloam Isaiah this is what God sent them for
19:42 them to survive to trust they refused Israel rejected and they were lost today
19:49 there's a person who sent Jesus is sent goes to the pool of the scent what did
19:56 the man do he went there he accepted what God had given him all right That's
20:02 the clue how you interpret this particular passage. And so therefore, letting the light in is what? Obedience.
20:09 All right. Go and wash the pool of he didn't argue why why go to pool of I can't go home and wash myself. He goes,
20:16 he is obedient. He went and he came back seeing the neighbors uh had seen him all
20:23 these years. All of them. This is not this man who used to sit and beg. Some said it is he. But he uh others said no
20:32 he's like him. He kept saying I am the man. So he actually acknowledges that he was actually blind before. And testimony
20:40 uh in front of the Pharisees how then how are your eyes opened? He answered
20:45 this man the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me go
20:50 to Silom and wash. And he went and washed and received my sight. And he said to him where is he? I don't know.
20:56 He's a perfect unbiased testimony. All right. And then how can a man who is a
21:02 sinner do such things? And there's there division among them. They said again to the blind man, what do you say about him
21:07 since he has opened your eyes? He says he must be a prophet. It's a open-minded person. He cannot be a sinner, isn't it?
21:14 I was blind but now I see. So if you're open-minded, never heard about the theology, at least he's a prophet. Very
21:20 open-minded. So basically receiving the light is giving the light a chance. being open-minded, unbiased.
21:28 And then you've got boldness and insistence. So second time they call the man, give glory to God. We know that
21:33 this man is a sinner. Whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I know though I was blind and now I see.
21:39 And they said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already.
21:44 You won't listen. Why do you want to hear again? Do you want to be his disciples, too? And they answered him,
21:49 you were born in utter sin. You want to teach us? And they cast him out. The irony is that the guy who's been
21:54 outsider, right, winds up being an outsider again simply because he told
22:01 the truth. But yet there's boldness and insistence because he was blind and now
22:06 he sees nobody's going to convince him otherwise. All right? And then there's logical assumptions. The man answered,
22:12 "Why is this an amazing thing? You don't know where he's from. Yet he opened my eyes. We know that God doesn't listen to
22:17 sinners. But if anyone's a worshshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never in the world has since the
22:24 world begun has it been heard that anyone to open the eyes of a man born blind, if this man is not from God, he could do nothing. Isn't that logical?
22:32 And yet the Pharisees cannot actually see this. And then and then Jesus when
22:38 Jesus heard that he had cast him out and then found him and said, "Do you believe in the son of man?" And he answered,
22:44 "Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" And Jesus said to him, "You have seen him. It is he who is speaking to
22:50 you." And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. You see, this is a
22:58 picture of spiritual blindness being removed and the light comes in. And this
23:04 is the response to light. It is obedience. It's being open-minded, giving gospel a fair go, and in the end
23:12 believing, being touched by Jesus Christ. 1933,
23:17 uh, the talking movies had come in, uh, and Charlie Chaplan was in trouble
23:22 because all the movies he made were actually all no sound and and, uh, all
23:28 his antics were based on antics were based on how he would gesticulate and and and and move, not based on his
23:35 voice. He couldn't speak very well. and his last ditch effort was actually to finance a particular movie with all his
23:41 money to to try to get back into the game otherwise talking movies will wipe him out and he actually spent a lot of
23:47 time and he did this last movie uh called the city lights and it's a story
23:53 of Charlie Chaplan who's basically a which means no money okay and he's
23:59 always he's in love with this young lady he's an actress they actually hate each
24:04 other all right uh and and he's actually uh buying
24:09 um flowers from her all the time. They interact all the time and she thinks that he must be a rich fellow because he
24:16 comes all the time and he buys you know flowers, recognizes his voice, the touch of his hand and all that and he really
24:22 likes this girl. So what he does is he does funny things as Charlie Chaplan does. He steals, he begs, he borrows and
24:29 to basically earn enough money because he knows that this girl has a blindness
24:34 that can be cured by surgery, maybe cataracts. And actually saves all this money and just as he gives the money and
24:41 arranges for the girl to go in hospital and be operated on, he's caught by the police and put in jail. So this girl has
24:47 an operation. She sees, she's fantastic. She opens up a Florish shop when she
24:52 gets out. And there at the Florish shop, she's wondering who is the one who actually saved my life. And there and
24:59 entering into the the the shop was a wealthy benefactor. So ah rich guy,
25:05 maybe he's the one. And meanwhile, Charlie Chaplan just gets out of prison.
25:10 He's disheveled. He doesn't have any money. He looks like a a beggar.
25:15 And he she spies him outside the shop looking in holding a broken down flower.
25:22 and she has compassion. And what she does is she grabs one of her nice flowers. She runs out to him
25:29 and uh basically uh takes his flower, throws it away and gives her
25:36 give him his flower, her flower and also puts a coin inside. And the last scene
25:43 of that particular movie is when she puts the flower in his hand and she puts
25:49 one coin in his hand and she touches his hand. The moment she touches his hand, she recognizes because you know why?
25:56 She's blind. Everything is by feel. This is the man who's come in all the time
26:02 whom she thought was rich but now poor.
26:07 And the movie ends because she takes his hand and puts it on her heart. You see
26:13 that's the picture of Jesus Christ because he comes to the person's life
26:19 brings life and love when he just comes to the to the the beggar in the
26:24 end he recognizes him his voice and his love which he extends. Everybody else is
26:30 laughing at him. The disciples is using as a theological debate but only Jesus Christ came and touched him. You know
26:38 Ravi Zachcharias does a lot of work in the Middle East even talking to the top moolas and imams and he says there only
26:45 when when people in the Middle East come to know Christ which many of them are coming there only two factors you know
26:51 that can break through the spiritual darkness in the 1040 window there two factors and the two factors are what
26:59 Jesus breaks through the spiritual blindness by dreams. So at night they
27:05 will actually have dreams and uh
27:12 another factor is love when a Christian comes spends time with them and
27:19 basically show them love right so u this is a book by uh Rebecca Manley
27:26 Pippet I don't know how many of you read it I read it when I was uh quite young and um she tells you how we actually
27:33 share the gospel people. And there's a testimony I want to read to her, to you guys, about one of the people whom she
27:39 brought to Christ. And uh it says this, this is a lady called Stephanie.
27:45 Then Becky, you invited me to dinner. And before we ate, you asked if you could thank God for the food. I thought,
27:53 how quaint. Only you didn't just thank God for the food. You thanked him for me
27:58 and our friendship. And you took me to the Bergman film. And afterwards you said that you had studied the very same
28:04 concept which was in the film in the Bible that day. I never dreamt God could be anything remotely common with modern
28:11 cinema. But Becky, do you know what affected me most? All my life I used to think how arrogant for someone to call
28:16 themselves a Christian to think that they are that good. But then I got to
28:21 know you and Becky, you're far from perfect and yet you call yourself a Christian. So my first shock was
28:28 discovered that you blow it like I do. But my biggest shock was that you admitted it where I don't. And suddenly
28:35 I saw that being a Christian didn't mean never failing, but admitting that you failed. I wanted to keep Christ in a box
28:42 and let you be religious during Bible studies. But the more you let me into your life, the more impossible it became
28:49 to keep the lid on Christianity. Even your admission of weaknesses drove me to
28:55 Christ. And Becky Pippet ends with these words.
29:01 Seeing the real me gave the gospel more power, not less. The more open and
29:06 transparent I became, the more they saw Jesus. When I cover up for God's
29:12 reputation, they only see me.
29:17 See, God, all of us are blind, but now we see. And sometimes we think we're not
29:22 good enough to share the gospel. They see me with all my flaws and my warts and my bad habits and and my bad temper
29:31 and I can't share with them Christ. But there only two things that open
29:36 spiritual blindness. One is a dream where Jesus speaks to you directly or second is when a Christian becomes real
29:43 and he comes to you and all. You know she ends this with a very good saying. I
29:48 think you need to remember this one. She says live the faith that you share and
29:54 share the faith that you live. We don't have to share a faith that you
29:60 don't live. All of us are brought in Christ. We have that much light and we live authentically. And the people whom
30:08 we share the gospel with, your families, your friends, your community, they will see the real you and they will see the
30:14 real light. Thirdly, judgment comes when we keep
30:23 the light out. Here is the other aspect of John nine. The Pharisees, God will
30:29 not heal on Sunday. They brought him to the Pharisees. The man had been formerly blind. Now, it was Sabbath day. And when
30:37 uh well, it's Saturday actually, not Sunday. That Jesus made the mud, opened his eyes. And so, the Pharisees again
30:42 asked him how he received the sight. And they said to him, "He put mud in my eyes and I washed and I see." And some of the
30:48 Pharisees says, "This man is not from God, for he doesn't keep the Sabbath." And doesn't say, "How can this man who is a sinner do such things?" And there
30:54 was a division among them. Big fight, big theological argument. Why? Because
30:59 here's a man born blind. Never had a man born blind and then can see. Huge, huge miracle. They're
31:07 supposed to be the shepherds of the flock in Israel. Instead of rejoicing over one sheep who can see, they're
31:13 saying that this is not real. He's not really able to see. It's it's all about the mud. It's all about
31:20 healing someone on Sabbath day. You can see how blind they are. Someone told the story of their two blind men and uh it
31:27 is a fictitious story, but it's it's interesting. Uh we've got this man and
31:32 then he meets the other man. Mark chapter 8. You know there was another man who was healed in Mark chapter 8
31:37 just before uh Peter's testimony that you are the Christ in the in the village of Beda and there Jesus uh so that man
31:46 who was healed when he was blind comes and meet this man who was healed and was blind and they have a conversation and he says wow I can see it's wonderful
31:54 they both rejoice Jesus made it happen and then the guy from Mark 8 says
31:59 fantastic isn't that this is great and then the guy from John 9 says you know
32:04 when he put the mud in my eyes. And the other guy said, "Wait a minute. What mud?" He didn't put mud in my eyes. He
32:11 put saliva. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He put saliva. I just saliva. And then he put
32:17 the mud. No, you don't have mud. He didn't put mud in my eyes. What? You're
32:22 sleeping. You must still have mud in your eyes. Then he sent me to the pool of Silom. You never go to the pool. No,
32:28 I didn't go to the pool. And this is where the first denomination started. The Mites and Antibites.
32:34 This arguing of stupid things is exactly what happens in church, isn't it? You're
32:40 arguing about whether you put mud or didn't put mud, whether saliva or whether you went to the pool. Jesus can
32:45 do anything. All right? And here here you actually have the the the Pharisees
32:51 being tripped up by small theological differences. And here you actually have the pool of the scent, Isaiah, Israel
32:57 rejected. And here you have Jesus who is sent in John 9, the Pharisees have rejected. It's a beautiful use of Old
33:05 Testament. All right. And then they requested the parents. The Jews didn't believe they had been born blind. Could
33:11 not imagine. Call the parents in, you know, hey, this one really born blind. Hey, hello. If he wasn't born blind, you
33:18 wouldn't be begging on the side of the street, right? And here they couldn't believe. Is this your son you say was
33:23 born blind? Hey, how then does he see? How do they know? Isn't it? And then the parents answer, we know that this is our
33:30 son. He was born blind. But how he sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. You ask him, he will uh
33:37 he's of age. He will speak for himself. And his parents said these things because they feared the Jews. The Jews already agreed that if anyone should
33:43 confess Jesus to be Christ, he will be put out of the synagogue. Therefore, his parents said he's of age. Ask him. See
33:48 the parents are very politically correct. They never defended the son whether he
33:53 can see or you ask him. You go to ask him. See, very clever. A lot of people do that. Uh
33:59 now here then he say what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered I already told you you wouldn't
34:06 listen do you want to hear again? Do you also want to be disciples? They reviled and scolded him. Say you are disciples.
34:12 We are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses as to this man. We don't know where he comes from. So
34:18 they refuse to accept the facts of the case. They fall back on their own selfrighteousness.
34:24 Okay. Self-righteousness causes blindness. This man says, "If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
34:30 And they say, "You're born in sin. Would you teach us?" And they cast him out. So therefore, the veracity of the truth is
34:37 based on the person. Reminds me of this fellow called Rudy Geliano.
34:43 All right? He's now talking about Trump and the alleged affair with Stormmy Daniels. And says Stormmy Daniels cannot
34:50 be trusted. You know, in the testimony, you know why? Uh, you know, Trump's wives are beautiful women, classy women,
34:56 women of great substance. Stormmy Daniels, huh? How can she be telling the truth? I'm sorry. I don't respect a porn
35:03 star the way I respect a career woman, a woman of substance, a woman has great respect for herself as a woman and as a
35:09 person. It isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation. So, Stormmy, you want to bring a case? Let me
35:15 cross-examine you. Just because you are Stormy Daniels, you're a prostitute or
35:20 you're a porn star, you cannot tell the truth, right? The irony is you got Mary
35:25 Magdalene who used to do all sorts of things and she one of the first few people who actually saw the Jesus rose from the dead. Right?
35:32 So here we actually have people are closed because of your background because you used to be a porn star. You
35:37 cannot be believed. Uh and how the seeing became blind. So they think God
35:43 does not work on Sunday. Correct. They says uh Moses is God's only
35:49 spokesperson. Anyone born blind has to be a sinner. Correct? Anyone who broke the cyber law
35:55 has to be a sinner. Any God does not work through sinners. God does not work on sinners. No one could teach them
36:01 anything. See that's the problem. Ravi Zacharas's problem is not the absence of evidence but the suppression of it. They
36:08 actually suppress all the evidence. And John nine shows you the evidence is so clear. This is Richard Dawkins, okay?
36:15 Who is the atheist and let's see how he suppresses the evidence. The God in the
36:20 Old Testament now he loves human beings. He thinks human beings are great. We can
36:26 police ourselves. We only do good things. Okay, you keep that in back of his mind because he's a humanist. And then he says the God of Old Testament is
36:33 arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. He fiction, right? Jealous and proud of it. Petty, unjust,
36:40 unforgiving, control freak, vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic cleanser,
36:45 misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, philicidal,
36:51 pestilential, megalomaniacal, sedic, basoistic, capriciously malevolent
36:57 bully. Now, if God is a god of fiction, who did
37:02 all those things? Human beings. So, he just self-contradict himself. phye what
37:08 they do is they he suppresses the truth and here you got old testament prophecies about this should you have
37:13 known better they are the theologians this is what the old testament background is 42 I am the lord I have
37:19 called you in righteousness I will take you by the hand I'll keep you I'll give you as a covenant for the people a light
37:24 for the nations to open the eyes that are blind to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon from the uh prisons that those who sit in darkness I am the
37:31 Lord that is my name my glory I give to no other nor my praise to carved idols here look at Isaiah 35
37:37 A God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. And then the eyes of the blind will
37:44 be open and the ears of the deaf unstopp. And then shall the lame man leap like a deer and a tongue of the
37:50 mute sing for joy. They know the Old Testament. They seen before their eyes
37:56 and yet they suppress the evidence. Jesus said when some people come and asked him you know John's disciples you
38:01 know are you the one uh uh the lamb of God or are you another and you know what
38:07 he says go and tell John the blind see the lame walk lepers are cleansed and
38:13 the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preach to them and blessed is the one who is not offended by me blessed is the one who is
38:22 not offended by me the facts the problem with atheism is that you've suppressed
38:27 the facts. All right. So here you actually have uh John uh Jesus saying
38:33 therefore I came to this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. So when the
38:41 light comes, you either accept it in obedience or the light actually causes
38:48 you to stumble because it said here in Isaiah 6 9-10 he tells Isaiah go and say
38:56 to this people keep on hearing but do not understand keep on seeing but do not perceive make the heart of these people
39:02 dull their eyes heavy and blind their eyes unless lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and
39:08 understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. So actually the gospel is a two-edged sword. For some who receive
39:16 the light, they come into the light and they receive life. For others, the light
39:23 causes them not to see. The more light they see, the more they reject it.
39:28 Actually blinds their eyes. Right? So these uh for everyone who does wicked
39:33 things hates the lights. It's like open up a rock and the light comes in all the
39:39 cockroaches run away. If you actually do evil things, you will hate the light. John chapter 3. And then
39:46 for John chapter 3:21, but those who does what is true come to the light that they may be clearly see that his works
39:52 was been carried out in God. So the the fact that this man actually obeyed is actually the work of God in his life.
39:59 You cannot come to God unless he draws you. So this is a picture. So let me end
40:04 with a challenge. The challenge is God is looking for men
40:11 and women with a vision. You see everybody's born here. I was not that
40:16 this man is sin or his parents s but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
40:23 How many of you here are blind? You're not as bad as being blind, right?
40:28 But if God has a purpose for blind men, do you not think that he has a purpose
40:35 for you? Most of you are not blind. Don't you say this is God's message to
40:40 you? I was blind but now I see all of us
40:46 somehow some of us are blind. Some of us were greedy business people, adulterers,
40:52 homosexuals, divorces, uneducated, sick, lame, blind. that describes all of us.
40:59 But but he says, "One thing I know, I was blind, but now I see." The only
41:05 qualification you have to fulfill God's purpose in your life is to say, "I was blind. I was sick. I was sinful, but now
41:12 I see." And so this message goes out to all of us. If a blind man, a man born
41:18 blind, a man born by who lived years in useless apathy sitting down there
41:24 waiting to die. If God so finds his life so precious, don't you think he has a
41:31 purpose for every single one of you? He has a purpose and all you have to do,
41:38 your qualification is all I do know that although I was blind but now I see. God
41:44 is wanting us this morning to see that we all have to have a vision. You have
41:50 to have a vision of your what your purpose of life is. But yet you say, "Ah, I cannot lie. I'm only a housewife.
41:57 I'm not very educated." This is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:7. We have this treasure in the jars
42:06 of clay to show you that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. You
42:12 know in temple there are no jars of clay. In a temple when uh the Persians
42:18 gave back treasure to uh the Israelites. If you read in Ezra they got thousands
42:24 and hundreds of basins of gold, silver, iron. There are no jars of clay. Jars of
42:32 clay is like crap. And what he's saying is that we have
42:38 treasure in jars of clay. That means the weaker we are, the more we accentuate
42:44 the glory of God. Which would you like to be? Rosbar's bag or Mahhat slipper?
42:54 Very simple. Which I rather be Mahhat slipper. And by the way, they they sold out the the 1199
43:05 because he he he is so well respected. He doesn't have to carry a $820,000
43:13 bag. See, so the glory is actually in the earn
43:18 is what the earthn vessel carries, isn't it? He actually accentuates his glory by by wearing something like this. And all
43:25 of us are actually earn vessels. Every single one of us, we bring our
43:31 brokenness to Jesus Christ. You say, I I find it hard to believe. I find it hard
43:36 to have faith. But you you bring your brokenness to Jesus Christ. And all you have to do is to say like this blind
43:43 person, I was blind, but now I see. The great Billy Graham
43:49 wasn't that great when he started off with was he described himself as an ordinary man and uh starting out when he
43:56 started preaching and was a very famous preacher somewhere else who who was doing the rounds in the in in the
44:01 universities speaking and then that guy couldn't make it for a particular uh uh
44:07 sermon in the university and uh he asked the Christian fellowship would you mind
44:13 that I get this young man his name is Billy Billy Graham Billy who Billy Billy
44:18 Graham come and preach to you and said no we don't want Billy Graham we'd rather have nobody no you got to have
44:24 Billy Graham so in the end he managed to convince them and they told Billy you better go and do good one right so Billy
44:29 went and he preached to the Christian fellowship and then when he came back he asked Billy hey how'd it go Billy was
44:37 very sad he sort of like put his hand in his pocket and looked down well I did okay I I preached the gospel and he
44:43 responds oh go one fellow One fell. I mean, Billy Graham. One
44:49 fell. You're going to start off at one anyway. Anyway, you know what his name is? This guy,
44:54 Warren Werby, pastor of the Moody Church, written 50 theological books.
45:01 All you did is convert one person. That's all he did. And that's where he
45:06 started. Anthony Bourdain in the story all the time, right? I mean, he's got the job
45:12 that I would have given my right hand for. you go and eat and he doesn't look
45:17 fat too all over the world he's he's like eating and drinking and
45:23 he was even in the bottom of Clock Sea Tower in Pinang and he had Assam Laka
45:28 and and and he he loves Malaysia and he's such a wonderful man and yet
45:33 where what happened he killed himself suicide the man with the best job in the
45:39 world kills himself because he sees no more purpose in his life at towards the
45:45 end of of his life. Another famous uh rich woman, Katie Spade, some of you
45:50 might have her bags, not Burkin, also kills herself. Very rich woman. You know, all these people are rich and have
45:56 got all this sort of things in life going more than us, they keep killing themselves. As you get older, did you
46:01 know that if you get older, the psychological purpose of life drops
46:07 as you get older? You know why? Because when you're young and decided, I'm going to live my life to eat and travel. I'm
46:14 going to spend my life making bags. And when you reach towards the end of your life, you realize that's not good
46:21 enough. That's not good enough. Because the only thing that will give you joy is
46:27 that the works of God might be displayed in him. You see, brothers and sisters,
46:34 today, if you keep on working and living like Katie Spade or or Anthony Bourdain,
46:40 you will come to a time in your life when you're old enough, if you're lucky to reach that age, that the purpose will
46:46 drop because you've done it all and there's nothing else to do. The only
46:52 thing that will last, the only thing that makes even the suffering that you have make sense is that it's done that
46:59 the glory of God might be displayed in our lives. Each of every single one of us here this morning, we have a purpose.
47:05 Some of you, the purpose is obvious. Others are not. And you're always blinded. Why? Because I'm not good
47:11 enough. I'm too sinful. I'm not eloquent enough.
47:17 Man was born blind. How do you eloquent do you think a man blind most? All he does is go around to his neighbors and
47:22 tell them, "I was blind, but now I see." Can't any of us here this morning walk
47:29 around to our neighbors and our friends? You see there there's a beautiful choir called the one children's choir. Google
47:36 that they they sing the song I can only imagine. I love this choir is from Utah.
47:42 And the beautiful part about this choir they when they sing this song called I can only imagine is that you see the children. The children some of them are
47:50 not normal children. There's a child who has burned her hand when she was 15 months of age and her hands are all
47:55 contracted. And yet, if you see in the video, she's playing the violin. There's
48:01 another child who's playing the guitar for her brother who is basically a Down syndrome child. There's another child
48:08 who's who basically a 12 16 year old who's applied for all sorts of things in
48:13 life and nobody's actually accepted her. Whatever she applied, nobody wants her because she's got a facial deformity
48:19 where she was born when the facial bones were fused together. When she applied to the choir, they actually took her. And
48:26 when she actually came and joined, they had a big ceremony where she was accepted. You see, each and every one of
48:31 us. And then they all come together and they sing like angels. You see, we all come from backgrounds
48:38 that are difficult. But the church of Jesus Christ is the only place where your hands are
48:45 missshaken, your face may be disfigured and you look like mahates slippers.
48:53 And yet when you come together you will sing like the choir of angels. You know
48:58 why? Because we need people who have been sinful. We need your brokenness because we reach out to whom? A broken
49:05 world. If you're a former businessman and you've compromised, if you're a
49:11 former homosexual and you've compromised, you're former somebody, every single one of you is required in
49:16 the church because you form this beautiful mosaic that the picture when God looks at it, the world sees a
49:22 complete picture of the healing power of Jesus Christ. We need every single one
49:27 of our brokenness. And all we have to do is say, I was blind, but now I see. But
49:33 that's not all. The last challenge is this verse. This is in 2 Corinthians 6
49:41 3:16 18. When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. You can see and the
49:48 Lord is the spirit and the spirit of Lord and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. You're released
49:54 and we all with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one
50:01 degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. You see, if you look back at the chap
50:08 who is in Canada who started seeing for the first time, you'll find that he's
50:13 not used to the images. You think you'll see everybody first time? No. In fact, there was a young lady who was healed
50:19 from she was born blind and she was healed later on in her teens. For the first two weeks, she cannot go into the
50:25 light. She closes her eyes. You can't distinguish depth of vision. You can't
50:30 because everything is like two-dimensional. You can't distinguish occlusion. That means one object and the
50:36 other object is in front of the other object. It will block the other object which means the one who blocks the other object is in front and back. They can't
50:42 tell that. They can't tell that perception. But as they keep on looking
50:47 and looking and looking, you you catalog a whole bunch of experiences. It becomes a database upon which you rely upon to
50:55 actually give you sight. And later on you can find the people who have been born blind and become seeing they
51:02 actually start to dream. They dream dreams vivid color and they see how
51:08 beautiful it is. You see being blind and then coming to see is a process. If you
51:15 sit at home and you stare at the 284 Birkin bags and the $114 million every
51:23 single day, it will transform you into a Birkin bag. Isn't it
51:31 right? But if you actually sit at home and look at the face of our Lord Jesus
51:37 Christ and you dig into it, it will transform you. You see what you look at
51:43 will change your life and and and and we are blind to the superior value. Why is
51:50 it that when the gospel is preached and you read the Bible, nothing touches you. It doesn't touch you because you don't
51:55 read God's word and you don't allow yourself to be opened up. Look at the Pharisees. The lesson to us to the
52:01 Pharisees, they don't want to accept the evidence. They don't want to take it in. The facts are all there, but they're blind. And all of us are blind. They
52:08 don't we don't think Bible study is any good. don't think this is worthwhile. It's not worth coming on Wednesday and going to gam. It's not worth it. I there
52:15 are other things that are more important. That's spiritual blindness. We need we
52:21 are blind to the superior value of God. Stop sitting at home and looking the Birkin bags. Start coming to our
52:29 disciplehip programs and gamma or life groups and starting to see the superior
52:34 value of God. And then you can take your place in this huge choir where all your
52:40 brokenness required and we can show to the world. I was blind but now I really
52:46 see. Let's pray.
52:51 Father Lord, we just thank you. Father Lord, we just are amazed
52:58 because if someone was just born blind and for all his life he suffered,
53:07 there's only one thing good that happened to his life. Jesus came and touched him and he saw
53:15 and his entire purpose of life was just born blind in darkness and one day Jesus touched his life and he became a witness
53:22 to the light and that witness transformed other lives and that
53:27 glorified your name. Father Lord, if you could do that
53:33 to that man and 2,000 years later on, we are reading about that man in John
53:38 chapter nine and these words become precious to us. Then I pray, oh Lord,
53:44 that you could use every single one of us in this room. Help us open up our blindness. Open up
53:53 our eyes that we may see how beautiful you are. And when we share, let us be
53:59 unafraid to share and live to share the faith that we actually live.
54:04 We ask this for Jesus sake. Amen.
