A New Beginning

Analytical question:

During prayer, we just closed our eyes for just a moment and then opened them back up again. Think about this being your life daily. There is no light but sound to guide you. You are dependent on someone to help you navigate for the rest of your life. If you’re fortunate enough to use a stick or a seeing-eye dog, you become a living spectacle for others to look and feel sorry for or maybe for others to marvel at the fact you are able to navigate with limited assistance. For just this moment imagine that you cannot see. What would you do?

In the passage of , there is a story of a blind man from birth, whose life resulted in having people help him navigate, eat, and work as a beggar. He was a man solely dependant on someone else while living in darkness visually.

As we read in the passage, we will learn the following:

How the works of God and obedience lead to a miracle

How the miracle provided for a testimony to change lives

How the testimony made way for a transformation

(Lets Read) (5min’s)

In the first couple of verses, the scriptures point out that Jesus and the disciples see a blind beggar that was before them. They say Rabbi or in today's terms Teacher/Professor, whose to blame for this man being blind? Is it his sin or something that his parents did that caused him to be blind? Jesus responds with, neither! This man’s blindness is solely about God’s glory and affirms who I am and the work that must be done while here on earth. (vs 4)

All through the book of John Jesus gives affirmation as to who he is through his actions that will give God the glory. This can be pointed out in the chapters specifically that precede Chapter 9:

Background

Beginning with the changing the water into wine. Jesus performed this miracle even though as he pointed out to his mother in chapter 2 of John that his time has not come yet. (Some would claim that Jesus kept the party going)

Then speaking to Nicodemus (rich man) and teaching him about what it meant to be born in again in Chapter 3,

Then in Chapter 4 Jesus is speaking to Samaritan woman that in today’s time would be called a whore and truly there is no association with Jew and Samaritans, that did not happen in those days. He goes on to share the gospel with her that leads her to go back and spread the good news about the message she heard and begin to convert those that were in sin like she was! (She became an evangelist with the very little that she had, that was a testimony) Side note: It doesn’t take a theological degree to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, all you have to do is believe his word, confess from your sins, and begin sharing your testimony of forgiveness to others so that they too can be saved and begin again)

Then in Chapter 5, there is a man that laid next to a pool called Bethsaida and by this pool, there was believed to have healing powers. The healing powers they believed was from an angel descending down from heaven rustling the water and whoever entered into the water that person would be free from their stronghold. Their hope and dependency were on the sound of the angel of the Lord coming down so that one person may be cleansed. Well, Jesus came so that we no longer have to be dependent on an account that was limited to one, but rather the account of his life, death, and resurrection to be given freely to all who hear and receive his word as truth coming from God the father.

In Chapter 6 there an account of Jesus teaching the multitude of people and while he is teaching the multitude of people he, in fact, is performing an on the job training for his disciples. He explains to those that followed him and the disciples that he is the true bread of life that anyone that comes to him will not go hungry and anyone that believes in him will not go thirsty.

In Chapter 7 Jesus continues to teach. During his teaching there seems to be a divide of those that were too religious (cold) for their own good so they rejected his words, there were others that heard the word began to follow but were not as rooted as they thought because later on, these would be the same people that call for Christ’s crucifixion (lukewarm), Then there were others like the woman at that well that became a living testimony for the miracle that happened in her life and became rooted in the words of Jesus Christ. (hot)

In Chapter 8 Jesus continues to refute back and forth with the Pharisees as to who he is and to what authority does he have to speak the way that he speaks. Jesus was speaking about the slavery that we are in with sin and that he was here to save us from that sin. The religious folk in this passage were too glorified in their pride to even comprehend what Christ was speaking of. They were caught up in a religious law that stems back to the Mosaic Law and the Abrahamic covenant established by the way of men that were chosen to create the pathway for the Messiah Jesus Christ. This Christ would come not as a ruler or judge much like them but rather as a baby born is a destitute situation born in a manager that has no beauty or signs of wealth. A baby that was born to die and be raised again after 3 days. Providing for others that believe to have a new beginning in Him.

Main Points

Now it leads us to the 9th Chapter, and in this chapter

Obedience

Jesus always points way to the work that must be done here on earth for the glory of God the father. He (Jesus) is obedient as a man to do the works given to him by the Heavenly Father.

Jesus explained to the disciples that his time was limited and that while he (the light) was in the world, he would do the works of his father because there will be a time that he would have to go. Represented by darkness.

Soon after Jesus speaks this to the disciples he prepares for the miracle by spitting on the ground and forming a mud-like paste and places it on the eyes of the blind man. The next thing he does is give him a command, he gives him directions to go and wash his eyes out in the pool or lake called sent. Jesus gave directions and the blind man obeyed. He obeyed Jesus’ request.

Christ's miracles are linked to our obedience to him. When Jesus reveals himself to the women at the well he affirmed himself by telling her about herself and gave direction for her to share the good news. When he healed the paralyzed man he passed no judgment on him but gave specific directions to rise up and walk and sin no more (he obeyed). This is specifically why it is important for us to be obedient to the words or direction that God tells you to move in.

Well, how does that work in my life? There are three factors to be obedient. First is hearing the voice of the Lord and following his word. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. If we look back to the word in the first verses you would learn that this man is blind. So he has not seen the miracles of Christ, so he could not believe based on being an eyewitness. He heard the voice of the Lord (Jesus) that could only stir up a believing type of faith. Well, how does a believing type of faith happen? It’s like how everyone here that came into the church sat down on a chair and had no questions if whether or not the chair would hold you up. I did not see anyone seek out phone numbers or the lead people in the facilities department to verify if the chair would hold you up. You believed that the manufacturers that made the very chair that you’re sitting on made it with you in mind. Now many of us practiced this faith because we had parents that taught us how to sit down on a chair as early as infancy. Since then anytime you saw a chair and you were tired and or were told to have a seat you sat down without question if whether or not this chair would hold you up, you sat down. This blind man had no idea on what this man called Jesus would be like. He had no idea that he would be told to activate a believing faith that would allow him to have a new beginning like he experienced that day. However, I would venture to say that this blind man was already being prepared by God from the beginning. His life was all about a believing faith that many of us don’t realize. He had to learn to navigate, eat, sleep and probably fend for himself as a beggar without sight. . It’s called Testimony.

Testimony:

This man's healing showed that there was no other person that could do this but the son God. The blind man’s testimony caused many to be both amazed and confused at the same time. It’s like the stories that you hear about when the doctor says its time to operate, there is no other alternative. Then there is a group of fasting prayer warriors that are praying on your behalf interceding for you to be cured from an ailment and then the unthinkable happens. The doctors look and find nothing! The doctors conclude this act as inclusive or a miracle from God. The people that knew this man was confused! They could not fathom the thought of the same man that was just begging for scraps and anything that would be given to him is now able to walk about the area without help. He Is able to see the people clearly that once gave him scraps to live off of. His testimony caused people to rejoice in awe of what Jesus just did, but caused the question to the Pharisees that were following Jesus every move to pass judgment on his actions. Their attempts were to discourage others from following the living Son of God. Isn’t that so true when God shows up on time, that the enemy (the devil) slips and slithers his way into the situation to give doubt, insecurity, and uncertainty of who God is? The devil has been doing this since the beginning of time. Let's look back into the book

The Fall 3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

The devil is known as the great deceiver as referenced in saying:

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

He is here to cause confusion among those that wish to know God and believe in him

Main Point 2 - Confirmation from others

Sub Point 1 - Testimony

Sub Point 2 - Belief/ Disbelief (Confirmation/Confusion)

Sub Point 3 - Fear (Salvation is personal)

Revelation- Conversion a New Beginning

Main Point 3 - Separation from sin and circumstances

Sub Point 1 - God will go looking for you

Sub Point 2 - New site gives new beginnings

Sub Point 3 -

Proposition:

Life Application -“I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” NLT

A new beginning is every day, opening your eyes not only literally but spiritually. Christ says I am coming for those that invite me into their circumstances so that a miracle can be performed for his glory alone.

For those that think that they have the answer to the problem because it’s motivated by head knowledge as the Pharisees did, you will remain blind in your sight leaving you to depend on your limited ability.

Conclusion:

Jesus Christ looked at the man, and He did not think about theological cobwebs. What was suggested to Him was to fight against the evil and abolish it. It is sometimes necessary to discuss the origin of an evil thing, of sorrow or a sin, in order to understand how to deal with and get rid of it. But unless that is the case, our first business is not to say, ‘How comes this about?’ but our business is to take steps to make it cease to come about. Cure the man first and then argue to your heart’s content about what made him blind, but cure him first. And so Jesus Christ taught us that the meaning of the day of life was that we should set ourselves to abolish the works of the devil, and that the work of God was that we should fight against sin and sorrow, and in so far as it was in our power, abolish these, in all the variety of their forms, in all the vigor of their abundant growth. Sorrow and sin are God’s call to every one of His sons and daughters to set themselves to cast them out of His fair creation, and ‘the day’ is the opportunity for doing that.