Sermon Tone Analysis

One thing...one thing drove a revolution in America.

That one thing that bound all of these different people from really different denominations, and different philosophies, and different languages together.

Because of one thing.

One thing they would not deny.

One thing they would not surrender, and that was freedom for them.

Freedom.

They had tasted it.

They knew it was worth living for and that it was worth dying for.

That one thing.

In our lives we sign up for a lot of things.

We raise our hand for a lot of things.

But there come those moments when we're called upon to test our loyalties and to test our commitments.

When we're called upon to, I guess, see what we are really made of.

Those times when we pull back to those one things (if I can say it that way) that drives us…that we know is true.

That one thing that causes us to move forward into opposition.

That one thing that drives us to try the impossible.

To stay true to the course when the obstacles are before us.

I want us to search our hearts this morning.

This is a very simple message and a very simple call and challenge to us today.

It may be that you find it difficult to carry on your Christian faith in the world, in front of your friends, at your family gatherings even.

Because there isn't just this one thing upon which you rest everything.

You see, without that one thing your commitments will fall.

Without that one thing your loyalties will vanish.

As a parent, your love for your children sometimes will drive you to courage that you wouldn't have for someone else.

It will cause you to sacrifice that you wouldn't for someone else because there's that one thing.

That inbound, innate love and protection that you have.

It motivates you when maybe even logic doesn't apply.

The same is true for the radical Christian.

You see, the radical Christian...the extremist out there...the ones who live their faith.

The ones who you're afraid at any moment in a public gathering are liable to say the name of Jesus publicly.

They do so because of one thing.

There's one thing.

If you are challenged by your faith today, I want you to seek and find that one thing.

You see, testimony is what really the message of today's lesson is in John.

We looked...if you were with us last week...at this young man who was born blind.

Blind from birth, and yet, Jesus heals his blindness.

We see this man is brought today in our text before a group of Pharisees to explain why he is no longer blind.

They don't really know him even that well so they're even wondering if he ever was blind.

As he comes and he says a man called Jesus gave me my sight.

He splits the group into two.

There are some Pharisees who just simply don't believe it because they know about Jesus.

The fact that he had healed this man on the Sabbath shows them that whatever He is, He's not of God, because God wouldn't violate that law.

In their mind it was a conclusive fact that He couldn't be from God.

But then there is the other group of Pharisees who are saying, "How can a sinner cause a blind man to see?

Where would this source of sight, this ability, this power come from if it didn't come from God?" They were split.

So, they called for the man's parents to come.

The parents come in and they're scared of the Pharisees.

If you read the story there then in John 9, you'll discover that they're very careful in answering their questions.

The question is, "Is this your son." "Was he born blind?" "How come he now sees?"

They say, "Yes, this is our son.

Yes he was born blind.

Yes he now sees.

But I don't know why he's seeing now.

I don't know how he's seeing now.

He's of age; you'll have to ask him."

Because they knew.

They knew who had given him sight.

They knew Jesus of Nazareth had given sight to this man.

But they also were more afraid of their friends, of their fellow Jews, of the Pharisees, than they were of their own knowledge.

You see, the one thing they had is they didn't want to lose face.

They didn't want to be kicked out of the synagogue.

They didn't want to say something that might cause embarrassment, that might cause ridicule, and that might cause them to be shunned.

So they said, /"He is of age; ask him."/

And they did.

I want to invite your attention to John, chapter 9, this morning.

I want us to look at some of the text.

The text really begins back in verse 13 and carries through verse 41, but I want us to just focus together on a couple of verses.

As the parents have been questioned, now they turn to this young man again.

I believe that he is a young man by the way.

First of all, they bring the parents in, and secondly they say, /"He is of age,"/ which indicates that well maybe he was just right on being of age.

He wasn't obviously of age.

So, he could have been what we would call a teenager.

A teenaged young man in that culture was a man.

When he turned 13 he was fully declared a man and so the reference to calling him a man could certainly apply to him being very young.

It seems that he probably was quite young, but he's also growing rapidly in his boldness.

They bring him in verse 23.

His parents said, /"He is of age; ask him."/

So in John, chapter 9, verse 24 they again called the man who is blind and said to him /"Give God the glory."/

In other words, they're sort of making him swear to an oath.

Very similar to what happened with Joshua when he brought Achan...for those of you have been with us during our study of Joshua on Sunday evenings, and he tells him, "Give God the praise and tell us the truth."

And he says here /"Give God the glory!" "We know that this man/ [that man being Jesus] /is a sinner."/

Now you want to give Him glory, but you need to give God glory and tell us what really happened.

So in verse 25, this young man answered and said /"Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see."

One thing I know./

Throughout the rest of his life, it is going to be a life of faith.

There's going to be that one thing that can't be taken away from him.

That one thing that will cause him to stand up to the same religious leaders that his own parents were afraid to stand up to.

That one thing that he would not deny because it had happened to him.

Now, you have to look in your own hearts this morning, my friends.

If you're timid about the faith, if you're timid about speaking of Christ, if you're timid with your testimony, you have to look into your own hearts today and ask…Is there that one undeniable truth about my relationship with Christ?

Is there something that I cannot deny?

Is there something in my experience of salvation that I know is true?

Is there something in God's deliverance of me from a situation that I know is divine?

Is there something that I can look to in my life and say I know the touch of God was upon me just as it was upon this blind man?

If there is that one thing that you know, my friends, you'll become an evangelistic Christian.

You will have no qualms in sharing your faith and taking the risk in risking the ridicule.

If there's this one thing that you know that you can look back to and place your faith on, that rock that you can stand on.

I think so many people stand on the soft sand of philosophies, the soft sand of Bible knowledge, the soft sand of logical debates.

My friends, there's a solid rock to stand on and that's the rock of God's touch on your life.

If He has had that moment, you need to post that on the wall of your mind.