Bind Faith?

The sermon.

Good morning beloved!

Honor to be here. I am so grateful to share God’s Word with you.

They keep letting me up here for some reason. Hoping that’s a good thing.

Today, we’re going to look at blind faith and valid faith. What initially led me to Christ, was the historical evidence. We’re gonna look at a lot today that fascinates me and what convinced me that Jesus was a real person, and the bible was a credible book.

The bible is amazing. We’re gonna talk about how amazing it really is today. Go down a little history rabbit hole.

Before we get started, let’s open up in prayer.

Last week, Pastor Chris gave us this dramatic scene. Jesus is avoiding the Pharisees and on His way out of the temple, He sees a blind beggar. Blind from birth…Now it was not uncommon for beggars to be there. Lots of people, works based believers, compassionate people, and genuine seekers of God all go here. So there was more opportunity there than anywhere else.

As Chris showed us last week, the man was blind for a purpose, that the works of God might be displayed in him.

So Jesus opened His eyes with spit mud…and the man washed and was given sight. And we pick up there in verse 8

John 9:8–12 ESV

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

So as we have seen so much of throughout the gospel of John, there is division

Some say this is the man, others say no,

The man is screaming I am he…

This case goes on throughout the chapter. The very next verse, they take the man to the Pharisees for further investigation.

But let's take a closer look at this.

We have the guy literally proclaiming he is the blind dude. He tells them the story of how this happened. He says, a man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes and told me to wash.

Now, a miracle of this magnitude would be pretty hard for anyone to believe.

But we have the man that many recognize, and that same man confirming his identity. Matter of fact, the Pharisees even go on to ask his parents later in the chapter.

Is this your son? Was he blind? They confirm his identity again, and tell the Pharisees to ask him. He’s an adult, because they didn’t want to make waves for themselves.

So we have this incredible miracle, and yet this trendy denial of Jesus and His power.

This denial, not because of lack of proof, we have that. They deny this miracle because of who did it. Jesus was not their Messiah.

They were waiting for a political/military leader to tear down Rome, and Jesus was quite the contrary, so He couldn’t be the Messiah.

They had their minds made up.

How many of you know someone that is a particular religion because they were raised that way?

No investigation, just taking the word of their parents and their people.

Is that not blind faith? Taking someone at their word, not investigating, not questioning, but because this is a trusted authority figure, we take their word for it.

Chances are, they didn’t do their research either. They just followed the last guy.

Church, we are NOT called to believe blindly! We have been given PLENTY of evidence. God is rational. He does not expect us to believe irrationally either.

Let’s examine some evidence here and see what our Creator left us for evidence.

Let’s take a look at this book. First of all, it’s not just a book. It’s 66. Written by 40 different people. It was written in 3 different languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It was written on 3 different continents. Africa, Europe, and Asia. Now here’s the thing, in all of that, there are no contradictions, the entire book tells the same story, and points to one Person. Jesus. How is that possible? We can’t even agree from generation to generation. Yet, 40 people, over 1500 years all agree on everything.

So starting with that, what other evidence do we have? Let’s look at the contents of the book..

The claim of creation. You know I got all amazed by an apple the other day? Apple story.

Genesis 1: 11

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants[e] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.

On a larger scale of creation, let’s look at physical constants. We know sunrise, sunset, even predicting eclipse, planet alignments etc.

We can predict eclipses hundreds or even thousands of years from now. Down to the second and even how long it will last. The perfect timing and organization of the universe SCREAMS intelligent design.

God says that the stars will be used for signs and seasons. By the sky, we can determine so much because of its consistency. Amazing.

Now what about local evidence? World historical evidence? Geological and geographical evidence? What do we have in that realm?

First lets look at the old testament.

The world wide flood in Genesis seems like a good place to start. What can we see as evidence from this event? Cultures all over the world share a common story about a flood at around the same time. But let’s not go by hearsay. Facts only today.

One of my favorite pieces of physical evidence for the world wide flood are the marine fossils that are all over our highest mountain tops. The Himalayas, the Alps, The Andes….all have marine/ ocean based fossils. Aside from once being under water, how else would they get there???

Next up, the site of Jericho in the book of Joshua. This city still stands today. It’s located on the western bank of the Jordan River. It has been thoroughly excavated and the walls of Jericho were discovered. Now, lots of arguments of when they fell, some say 1400 BC, some say earlier.

Either way, it’s a real place, still populated today by around 25000 inhabitants. It is often called the oldest city in the world.

Moving forward and let’s look to David’s dynast and Solomons temple.

The Tel Dan Stele. This thing was an amazing find.

Before this discovery, David was widely considered a mythical hero. Some made up figure to inspire.

It was discovered in Northern Israel in 1993-94. It was found in 3 fragments. It’s a slab of basalt stone. Dark, dense, and very durable. What makes this find so significant is its inscription. It tells of a battle between an Armenian King called Hazel and Israel and Judah.

So why is this so significant? It is written by David's enemies, outside of the bible, and it talks about the house of David. historically dated around the same time, but it simply confirms David’s dynasty and our Savior's blood line is real.

Fast forward a little bit. Let’s look at Solomon’s temple. The first jewish temple built.

So we don’t have any real hard evidence of this temple. But there are many sources outside the bible that talk about the Babylonian conquest of Israel and the destruction of the temple.

There are things like a pottery with an inscription that talks about payment to Solomon's temple that is date accurate.

Based solely on the outside findings of the bible, most, and almost all historians agree that destruction of Solomon's temple took place in 586 BC by Babylon.

This is also documented in the Babylonian historical writings. Not just the Bible, So we know and can be pretty certain that this is a true story.

Again…moving forward. What happens next on our historic journey?

Persia comes in and conquers Babylon. This is a pretty well documented battle that includes King Cyrus of Persia, and we have a really cool find that verifies this. Isaiah prophecies about Cyrus, and Ezra talks about the creed he set into order.

Cyrus came in conquered Babylonia and the records show that he allowed for the Israelites to rebuild their temple and begin to worship again.

But, we have this find called the Cyrus Cylinder. Discovered in 1879, in Babylon, which would be Iraq today, this clay cylinder is about 9 inches long, and reads about the battle, and also basically the same decree in the book of Ezra which basically gives back Jerusalem to its people.

Ezra 1:1–4 ESV

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

You can go see the actual cylinder in a museum in Great Britain. This confirms the actual events and verifies the bible is again, historically accurate.

Ok, one more OT finding. And probably my favorite. The dead sea scrolls.

In 1947, there was a discovery on the western banks of the dead sea. A couple of shepherds were out and about, lost a sheep and found it in a cave. They also found something else. Ancient clay jars. What was found in these was amazing. The dead sea scrolls were discovered.

So what are the dead sea scrolls? They are remints of every old testament book except Esther, and the entire book of Isaiah.

So some cool stuff about these scrolls. Dated from 250 BC to about 70 AD and the destruction of the 2nd temple. Probably hidden by Jewish sect called Essenes to keep them from Roman destruction.

So lets talk accuracy. When these scrolls were found, they were compared to what we have today and what has been preserved over the years and they were almost 100 percent identical.

The differences were spelling or grammatical. No theological differences, and not prophetic differences. So we can CONFIRM that the bible has been carefully preserved over the years with extreme accuracy and detail. It’s reliable. Standing the test of time.

So after the Persian conquest, the jewish people were allowed to rebuild the temple.

Moving toward NT findings and evidence.

So now they Jewish people are not yet under Roman rule, they rebuild the temple. Not quite as impressive as the first, but under Herod the Greats rule, he expands the temple quite a bit. Bigger courts, builds the temple mount platform etc. He used huge building block some 500+ tons.

He makes the temple actually pretty spectacular.

But, as we know, the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by general Titus of the Roman army just as Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24:2

So what is left now?

We have some of the excavated baths and pools. Matter of fact, the pool of Siloam is still there. This is the pool that the blind man washed in. The western wall, or wailing wall still stands today. The southern steps, and the Robinson arch. That was like this grand staircase ascending to the temple. All that stuff is still there.

We have items with Potius Pilates name and inscription. The famous pilate stone with an inscription of who Pilate was, we have Pilate coins and the ring of Pilate himself discovered in 2018.

Pilate was real, he was in power, and we have plenty of evidence confirming that.

The Herodian, King Herod's memorial still stands today. Confirming his reign during the time of Jesus.

Now what about Jesus? Let’s take a look at the evidence for our Savior Himself….

One of the first things I did on my journey was to find evidence to supper the life of Jesus.

First was Jesus a real person? Overwhelmingly ….YES! Not much dispute as to if He was a real person that walked the earth. This is the view of not only biblical historians, but secular as well.

Outside the bible, we have accounts of Jesus as well. I won’t go into all of them, but let’s look at a couple.

Tacitus. A roman historian who lived around those times says, that Jesus suffered an extreme penalty under Pilate.

Another historian. A jewish fellow named Josephus. He mentions Jesus, the crucifixion, and also that His believers claimed and believed He rose. So again, another account outside of the bible.

So what about the crucifixion? Well, we know this was a practice by the Romans at this time. They were excellent killers. The crucifixion was lethal. Jesus was killed in public.

We have the Roman guard confirming that Christ was dead in the fact that they shoved a spear in His side and blood and water came out. Another common practice at the time.

Even critics like Bart Ehrman (agnostic scholar) say:

“The crucifixion of Jesus is one of the most certain facts of history”

So what else? The empty tomb. We know that Jesus was placed in a tomb owned by a Jewish leader by the name of Joseph of Arimathea. This guy was well known, a member of the Sanhedrin, so the elite.

The tomb location was known, it was guarded by Roman guards.

The Romans could have produced a body and ended everything right there. But, there was not body. The tomb was empty.

We have the documented report of the guards in Matthew 28. The Jewish leaders give them money and tell them to say that Jesus’ disciples stole the body.

There’s a cool movie that shows the Roman side of things, called Risen. Great movie and gives a different perspective. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it.

Now what about the resurrection and the apostles? We have these men who fled during the crucifixion. Peter denying Jesus, Judas betraying Jesus, who later killed himself out of guilt. Scared out of the minds.

Then we have this claim and event of Jesus rising. The bible tells us of many witnesses, in fact over 500 people saw the risen Jesus all at once.

How do we know this? Well, we have all of the remaining apostles being threatened with torture and death. They don’t back down even a little bit. In fact, they all die extremely brutal deaths standing on this claim. Except for John, but he was exiled and sent away to the island of Patmos.

So what does that tell us? Well, I can say this, some people may be willing to die for something they believe is true, but no one will lay down their life for a lie they made up. These men saw Jesus, and were transformed. They went from cowardly actions fleeing, to courageous men willing to die for what they KNEW was real and true.

Last piece of evidence. The new testament itself.

5800 known Greek manuscripts dating as early as 125 AD.

These are written like 50-100 years of the originals. They have these manuscripts that were found all over the region. Mostly Egypt. But also Asia and Europe. What’s awesome is that when they gathered all these up, they were the same.

Minor differences, grammatical and spelling mostly. No changes in theology.

We could really spend some time here, but I know we’re limited here, so I hope that’s enough of the hard historical evidence for you today.

So, now I want to talk a little bit about the evidence we can see today in action. The divine and saving evidence that Jesus spoke so frequently of.

Some of you folks know a little bit about my story and my testimony. But I wanted to share some additional stuff that you may not know.

I grew up with a bunch of crazy women. Dad and mom divorced when I was 6.

As soon as I was able I got out of the house. I ran away a lot.

I spent a lot of time on the streets, seeking comradery, seeking acceptance.

I got involved in some local street gangs, did the whole got jumped in ritual to prove I was able to hang.

Immediately following, I got locked up, I don’t know how many times. Several different facilities, and not only that, but I became an escape artist. I broke out of just about every place they tried to put me.

I kinda became notorious with the guards and staff members. I eventually went away for about a year and a half for assaulting a prison guard, attempted escape, and a few other charges.

I got out and they put me on parole, and they made me a deal that if I moved away from all my friends and went to live with my dad in Boston they would terminate my parole.

I was happy to do it.

In Boston, I found a whole other life and sin to go with it.

Drugs and alcohol

That lasted for over30 years.

I lived in Boston by myself for a little while but I eventually followed my dad to Las Vegas, after robbing the Uhaul I worked for.

When I moved to Vegas, it was more of the same. Drugs. Crack, meth, etc.

For a few years, I was in and out of Narcotics anonymous. The best I ever did, was 3 months. I even got fired by my sponsor.

I eventually got to the point where I couldn’t afford the hard stuff. So I transitioned to alcohol and pills.

All the while claiming not to be broken or an alcoholic or drug addict and especially not a sinner.

The Lord blessed me with my beautiful wife somewhere in all this mess. That was about 20 years ago.

Now, she was amazing and loved me so much. She followed me, supported me, and unfortunately, I was heading the wrong direction.

But this woman stayed with me. I ran through numerous jobs, we lived with family because of my heavy addiction. We never had a stable life. My poor wife man…sheesh.

But as many of you know, about a year and a half ago, the Lord did a work in me. An unbelievable work.

My heart, my mind were completely changed. I went from depressed, lost, uncertain, anxious, tired, hopeless, to….Found, saved, loved, joyful, certain, peaceful.

Literally overnight.

God changed my life in an instant. This was not of my doing, and I’ll tell you how I know this.

Michael Jordan story.

So why do we share our testimonies? I think it gives hope, it shows that God is still working and saving today.

But, don’t we see the same thing happening today as we do in these passages?

We have a man blind made to see, yet, some believe the evidence, some don’t.

My story is very similar. I was blind. Spiritually, I said that I believed in Jesus and the bible, but even though I still did not see. I still lived in unbreakable chains called sin.

Then, Jesus opened my eyes, Just like this man we read about today. Now, there are some people that believe my testimony. Those closest to me can clearly see that my life is DRAMATICALLY different than it was.

This is what I call modern day proof in action. A changed life is evidence.

People can change, sure. But I had no intent to change. I couldn’t. I was dead, dead to sin and slave to the ways of the world.

Now when I had my last drink, it was a mess. Got belligerent, blacked out, drove drunk, got kicked out of my house, woke up at my sisters still drunk, broke my bedroom window to get in my house.

I told my wife that day, that was the last time I was drinking. Naturally, she didn't believe me.

But it was the weirdest thing, when I said that, I knew it was the truth.

Karen figured a week or two and I’d be back to my old ways. But days, and even weeks went by.

Every time that drinking would come up, I used the phrase, “ We never have to do that again.”

I didn’t realize what had happened at first. But for that first month, I felt free for the first time in my life. I felt alive. I had this overwhelming peace and joy in my heart that I had never experienced.

Then, I stopped using foul language, I stopped listening to secular rap that I had loved all my life. I stopped watching movies that I had loved my whole life because the content was evil. Stopped watching pornography.

I didn’t try to do these things, they just happened organically. The Spirit of God was beginning to change me.

I was drawn in to the bible. I was drawn to this church and you people. I can’t explain it, but I needed to be here. I needed to learn more about God’s word. It was overwhelming.

But after that first month, it hit me.

God saved me. He saved me from hell, from sin, from myself.

Folks, I spent the next 9 months crying myself to sleep out of joy. I was saved and freed from the bondage of sin.

The God of Israel heard my prayers, and He answered them.

I was in complete awe, and to be honest, I still am today. This must be how He makes Pastors

Why am I so grateful? God has allowed me to know what He has saved me from, and what He has replaced that with. God saved me from His judgement. Hell, eternal separation from Him. Now, that would certainly be enough.

But there’s so much more.

He gave me peace on earth. I rest in the promises of Jesus Christ. I am certain that when I die, I will be reconciled with my glorious Creator.

Not because of what I did. But because of what HE already did.

He took my addictions, He replaced them with love.

He took my sin, and gave me righteousness

How does this all happen?

It happens when our eyes are opened to our sinful nature. It happens when we confess those sins to God. It happens when we fully submit our lives to Jesus Christ, both as Savior, and as LORD.

Jesus lived a perfect life. He is the spotless Lamb of God. His righteousness is given to me in place for my sinful nature.

He walked in perfect obedience of the Father. Then, He gave up His life on the cross, to pay the price for that sinful nature.

It’s called substitutionary atonement for sin. It is literally Jesus paying the penalty for my sin, even though He was perfect.

Since I was up here last time bearing my testimony, lots has changed.

When I first got saved, the emotions were so powerful. As I mentioned, crying myself to sleep every night out of sheer joy and gratitude.

I was wondering to myself how this can grow. God how can you do anymore for me?

Well, that was answered too. God started to shape me more, reveal my other sins that I didn’t really know I had. Pride, ego, hate, anger, jealousy, fear, being judgemental was a big one... etc.

I have matured as a believer. Reading and studying His word every day. He has quickly become the center point of my entire life.

My whole life revolves around Jesus. And it is the absolute greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Matter of fact, it is the greatest thing that can happen to any man.

Salvation means I get to spend eternity with the One that not only died for me, but changed my life. The One who gives love and life. The creator of all things. Dang folks….what is better than that???

So in closing here, we can easily, confirm, the bible is real, the bible is accurate, Jesus is real, He lived, he died on a cross of the sins of mankind, He was buried in a tomb, He rose again and showed Himself.

In doing that, He satisfied the whole wrath of God, He atoned for our sins and He overcame death for us.

The bible says

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus, came to earth, He laid down His life, and as we read every week, gave us His righteous robe.

He is our salvation, He is our life, He is our eternity. He is our God.

Let’s pray.