"All I know is. . ." Sharing Christ at Christmas
John , Christmas 2025 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
It is official! We are now just 25 days from Christmas! Now I know I just caused many of you to panic, but it will be okay. You will get it all done!
Here’s what I want each of us to understand. Christmas is the best time to share the good news about Jesus Christ!
And the best tool you have in your arsenal is your testimony. Sharing with people what God has done in your life is the most powerful tool you have.
You see, no one can argue with your testimony. No one can argue with your experience with God. That is why your experience with God is the best evangelistic tool you have!
That is why I picked our memory verse for this week. John 9:25
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Many of you know my story from 2019. I promised God that I would share my testimony with anyone who wanted to hear it. I often talk about the fact that I “died” (now I can say that I died twice). If anyone asks, “Did you see anything?” or “What did you see?” I’ll ask one question, “Do you really want to know?” and if they say “Yes!” I’ll tell them my story.
Through the years, I’ve seen God use my story in amazing ways.
Now here’s the key! You have to know your story! And the amazing thing is that every one of us has a story—an amazing story of what God has done in each one of our lives!
This morning we are going to look at one man’s testimony and how it effected the religious leaders of his day. If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn with me to John chapter 9, and we’ll begin reading with verse 13.
Last week, we saw Jesus heal a man that was born blind. Last week, the people who saw the results of the miracle questioned the “blind” man.
This week we are going to see that they drag the man to appear before the religious leaders.
In John 9 13 we read:
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
Going Before the Pharisees!
The crowd now takes the man and brings him to the Pharisees (v. 13).
Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
THE PROBLEM: Jesus had made the mud on the Sabbath (v. 14). The Pharisees would have considered this to be a violation of the Sabbath law against working. Jesus had, after all, made clay (mud), put the mud on the man, and then healed the man. Any of these acts, or perhaps all of these acts could have been considered to be “work” and thus violate the law. This idea will be a big part of the subsequent conversation.
Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.
The Pharisees want to know exactly how the man received his sight (v. 15a).
The man tells them (v. 15b):
He put mud on my eyes.
I went and washed.
And now I see!
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
The Argument
The Argument
Some of the Pharisees begin to argue that there is no way Jesus could be “from God” because He violated the Sabbath law (cf. Mt. 12:2) (v. 16a).
Another group of Pharisees disagreed. They reasoned that a “sinner” could not perform such signs! They believed that only a person “from God” could do such things! (v. 16b).
So they they could not agree!
Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
They Ask the Man (blind man) to Settle the Argument!
They Ask the Man (blind man) to Settle the Argument!
The religious leaders turn to the man and ask:
What do you have to say about Him (what do you think)?
He healed you (this seems to ask about the man’s experience with Jesus).
The man says he believe Jesus is a prophet.
They Don’t Believe that He was Really the Blind Man
They Don’t Believe that He was Really the Blind Man
They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.
Well, the religious leaders don’t like the man’s answer, so they don’t believe him.
Actually, their problem is that they don’t believe the man was ever blind! They still cannot believe that something supernatural could have happened!
So they call for the man’s parent
“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
Questioning the Parents
Questioning the Parents
The Pharisees ask the parents:
Is this your son? (v. 19a).
Is this the son you say was born blind? (v. 19b).
How is it that NOW he can see? (v. 19c).
“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind.
The parents give them a guarded answer:
We know he is our son! (v. 20a)
We know he was born blind! (v. 20b)
But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
We don’t know how he can see now (v. 21a).
We don’t know who healed him (v. 21b).
We don’t know anything (v. 21c).
Ask (question) him yourself (v. 21d).
He’s an adult and can answer for himself (v. 21e).
Fear Comes Into Play!
Fear Comes Into Play!
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
His parents were careful about how they answered the Pharisees’ questions, because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders (v. 22a).
They knew that anyone who spoke publically about Jesus being the Messiah would be excluded from worshipping in the synagogue (v. 22b).
That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
They were not willing to risk it so they put it back on their ADULT son (v. 23).
Round Two (but really round 4)
Round Two (but really round 4)
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
The bring the “blind” man back in for a second round of questioning (this is actually the third time the man’s been questioned) (v. 24a).
First they order the man to give glory to God (v. 24b). I have no doubt that the man had been glorifying God for the miracle since it happened!
They want the man to give God glory in a specific way: By telling the truth! (v. 24c)
After all, the religious leaders “knew” Jesus was a “sinner” (v. 24d). At least they believed he was a sinner and certainly accused him of such.
The Man’s Response
The Man’s Response
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
The man’s response is golden! (v. 25)
I do not know if the man who healed me was a sinner or not.
I only know ONE thing! I was blind but NOW I can see!
Let’s Go Over It Again!
Let’s Go Over It Again!
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
The religious leaders ask the man two questions (which are really one in the same) (v. 26).
What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?
The Man’s response
The Man’s response
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
I have already told you what happened.
But you have not listened to what I’ve said.
Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you—religious leaders—want to become his disciple too?
Notice that this man believed in Jesus and now was considering himself to be a disciple of Jesus!
Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
They hurled insults at him (v. 28a). The Greek here means to revile, abuse, curse slander, insult strongly, to rail on. So they cussed the man out!
You can be a disciple of this man (because you are simple-minded and stupid!) (v. 28b).
We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
We, the more sophisticated, are followers of Moses (v. 29).
We know God spoke directly to Moses!
But we have no idea where this man receives his message!
After all we really don’t even know where he comes from (cf. Jn. 8:14).
The Man’s Answer
The Man’s Answer
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
It is remarkable (inconceivable)! (v. 30a)
You do not know where the man comes from, yet he performed a miracle—he opened my eyes (v. 30b).
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.
Here is what we do know:
God does not listen to sinners (v. 31a)!
God only listens to the godly person who is doing God’s will (v. 31b).
The man’s conclusion, the man called Jesus is from God! That is the only explanation that could possibly make sense!
Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
We have NEVER heard of someone opening the eyes of someone who was born blind—that has NEVER happened (v. 32).
If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Now he expresses his conclusion: If Jesus was NOT from God, he couldn’t do anything (v. 33)!
The Religious Leaders Cannot Stand the Challenge
The Religious Leaders Cannot Stand the Challenge
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
The religious leaders first accuse the man of being steeped in sin (NIV. Gk. literally means evil from birth) (v. 34)!
They become indignant that this “nobody” would dare to lecture them about spiritual things.
And they threw him out (Gk. throw out, drove out, jettison out, expel, cast out, forcefully eject) of their meeting.
So What?
So What?
We began this morning by talking about the fact that We are now in full-blown Christmas Mode!
I reminded you that Christmas is just 25 days away! And that means that we have 25 days to share the greatest story that has ever been told!
The greatest gift came into the world as a baby.
Born in a manger.
Immanuel—God with us!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Everyone loves a baby!
That means that there is no better time to share the wonderful news of the Gospel Message. And there is no better way to do it than by using your testimony—using your story of all that God has done for you!
You don’t have to be eloquent in speech.
You don’t even have to have one of those horrendous testimonies to be used by God. The man in our story simply replied:
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
He didn’t have all the answers!
He really didn’t even know who the man was—He wouldn’t have known Jesus if he had seen him!
He was blind, but now he can see.
You and I don’t have to have all the answers!
We simply need to know that we were lost in our sin, condemned to spend eternity apart from God, But then, at some point in time, we had a life changing experience. . .and we moved from enemy of God to being one of his children—all because God loved us and was willing to demonstrate His love for us.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So let’s take just a moment, and begin asking the Lord Jesus who He wants us to share the Greatest Gift ever! The gift of Jesus Christ, God’s wonderful demonstration of love!
Will you pray with me. . .
