Do You Believe?

John 9:34–41 NKJV

34 They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” 38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. 39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” 40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

Prayer

Leading up to this passage Jesus encounters this blind man. Jesus gives him instructions as to what he is to do so he might see. It took faith on the part of the man to do as he was insturcted and the end result is he regains his sight. But the religious people of the day questioned him and were not pleased. They could not see past the fact this blind man who the saw was blind because of sin now had his sight back. THey could not believe that God could do such a thing because it did not work with in their belief system.

How often do you and I stuggle with our faith because it doesn’t work with our beliefs of how life works. Or we see God work in the life of a person we have written off and we refuse to think God works this way.

What it comes down to is the question Jesus would ask the man who was previously blind but now sees.

John 9:35 NKJV

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

There is two things happening here.

Jesus went and continues to seek and find the ones the world, the religious elite cast off.

Jesus asks each of us a simple question “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

Jesus went and continues to seek and find the ones the world, the religious elite cast off.

Luke 19:10 NKJV

10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Jesus had compassion on this man who had a life changing moment in his life but all those around him could not get past their own beliefs. They did not like to be challenged, they were comfortable in the way things were and they were not ready to consider anything else that might disrupt that. They believed that sickness, trouble, everything that was wrong was a result of sin of a persons life or even their parents. But Jesus tells us that there is another possiblity.

John 9:3–5 NKJV

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

SO before you cast off a person consider what it might be that God is trying to do in their life and even ours.

But lets get back to what happens here. This man has been changed by Jesus and now he is cast away. But Jesus seeks him out. It reminds me of the parable of the lost sheep found in Luke 15.

Luke 15:6–7 NKJV

6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

The world in fact many in the church miss the point of the gospel. It is about finding that one that was lost, the one that was cast off, the one needing to be found.

Jesus found this man that was cast off and he wants him to see what really matters. And it is what He really needs to see. It is

Jesus asks each of us a simple question “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

Seems like a simple question but it what we need to ask ourselves each day. When we face life. Do you believe? When the world turns its back on me. Do you believe? When the church can’t see what God is doing in your life. Do you believe? When God tells you to go even when everyone else says no. Do you believe?

It really is the question we all face. Even the discples had to ask themselves the same questions.

John 20:26–29 NKJV

26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Thomas struggled with this idea that was totally foriegn to his thinking. Thomas was struggling to accept, to believe. Thomas like many of us struggle to trust that God has a plan for us even if we can’t see it or feel it. We struggle to believe.

RELIGIOUS OR CHRISTIAN? By: Major W. Ian Thomas

There are few things quite so boring as being religious, but there is nothing quite so exciting as being a Christian!

Most folks have never discovered the difference between the one and the other, so that there are those who sincerely try to live a life they do not have, substituting religion for God, Christianity for Christ, and their own noble endeavors for the energy, joy, and power of the Holy Spirit. In the absence of reality, they can only grasp at rituals, stubbornly defending the latter in the absence of the former, lest they be found with neither!

They are lamps without oil, cars without gas, and pens without ink, baffled at their own impotence in the absence of all that alone can make man functional; for man was so engineered by God that the presence of the Creator within the creature is indispensable to His humanity. Christ gave Himself for us to give Himself to us! His presence puts God back into the man! He came that we might have life - God's life!

There are those who have a life they never live. They have come to Christ and thanked Him only for what He did, but do not live in the power of who He is. Between the Jesus who "was" and the Jesus who "will be" they live in a spiritual vacuum, trying with no little zeal to live for Christ a life that only He can live in and through them, perpetually begging for what in Him they already have!

We can be religious, follow doctrine, quote theology, but we have never truly answered the question “Do you Believe?” We must answer this direct question be religious doesn’t mean you believe in Jesus it may only mean you believe in your religion. The Jews of Jesus’ day faved this same question.as we do today.

What is your answer to him today?

prayer