Iconic Jesus | Week 3

is we're walking through the book of John, looking at the life and the teachings of Christ and when looking or reading the book of John I think it's really helpful to get some context on why does this book exist like

what's the purpose of the book of John and I think maybe more than any other New Testament book it gives us a real clear reason why the book exists. So if you have a Bible with you, open up to the book of John, go back to chapter 20 near the back

and how many guys are paper Bible people? You've got like paper Bible and you bring it to church with you. How many of got? Raise your hands. This participatory. Okay. Excellent. Excellent. How many guys are digital bible people? It's on your phone to the bible app. Okay. Awesome. Awesome.

The scriptures that we're gonna be using in the message, you'll find a course in your bible or on your app, but also at rockpoint.io, the top tab tab that says latest message. All the verses are gonna be there. You can even take notes within that. And if you don't have a bible and you would like a paper bible,

you can ask for one on the way out today out the lobby. It'll be just like this and would love to give you that gift, but if you don't have it, download it on your phone. You can take scripture with you wherever you go. Let's read out of John chapter 20. Go to verse thirty and thirty one and it really gives us a picture of why this book exists.

It says the disciples saw Jesus, drew many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book but these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

The book of John is really, it's a book of identity confirming the deity of Christ

that in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. The whole book of John is to validate that Jesus is who he says he is and that's why he performs many miracles or signs throughout the book of John to basically confirm, hey,

I am the father, we are one. That's the whole purpose of this book and we're gonna camp out today in one particular chapter, it's chapter nine. So, scroll back to or flip your pages back to John chapter nine and we're just going to sit there and dig into this whole chapter, make some observations

and hopefully some helpful applications before we get done in the next minutes. So how many guys are still with me? Nobody is with me. This is so encouraging. Facebook online, I hope you guys are still with me because it's just the two of us right now. Here we go. I'm I'm I'm committed to this conversation.

Let me take you back up before we dig into the scriptures to my ten year class reunion. Anybody here old enough to have experience a ten year class reunion? Some of you some of you are laughing, you're like, I don't even remember my ten year class reunion. That was way back when. When I went to my ten year class reunion,

I was six years into my walk with Christ. I had given my life to Jesus six years previous to the class reunion. And so Shelley, my wife, and I go to this class reunion and it's you know, the ten year in my experience is,

it's still we're still young enough and fresh enough to be highly insecure in trying to press impress one another. So you go into the ten year reunion going, how do they look? They look any older? Who they marry? What happened to the one who was voted most likely to succeed? Are they a huge success

or did they totally bomb out what's going on? And if we did vote for the one who was maybe we thought was gonna be the most likely to fail, are they now Mark Zuckerberg or whoever? What is, you know, everyone like it? So we go in and still trying to impress each other. And so we're at our ten year reunion

and there's a buffet style meal to kinda get things going. So Shelley and I, we we get our food and we go to, one of the round tables, you know the basic round tables with tablecloths, there's six chairs per table. There's two couples already sitting at the table that we sit down and

we start you know kinda eating our food, doing the chitchat, the small talk and the other two couples, the husbands are each, someone that I knew. I knew him well in school, in fact we went school together, grew up together from basically kindergarten, first grade all the way through senior high. We weren't best pals

but we certainly knew each other and had seasons of hanging out together and we're sitting there eating the food, doing the small talk and one of the guys says, excuse me for just a moment, who are you? And I'm thinking he's joking And the other guy literally piggybacks that and says, yeah. Who are you?

And I said, are you serious? Like, yeah. I'm Scott Rogers. Total truth. They stopped chewing their food and stared at me. They couldn't even recognize me. Now some of you have seen my high school senior picture with the hair.

That was awesome. I won't show that again to spare you and not scare anybody away from Rock Point. But aside from this looking a little different on the outside, I was already six years into my walk with Christ and God had done

a pretty amazing work in my life in those six years. I was less like the guy who added a little church to my life and more like the guy in Matthew eight where Jesus casts out the legion of demons, like radical transformation.

And not only that I look different at my class reunion, but what was unrecognizable was the new my my mind's attention was totally different. My heart's affection had changed. I was a different person so much so that two guys that I spent eleven, twelve years of my life with just ten years previous

couldn't even recognize me when sitting across the table. I've been changed because of my relationship with Jesus. Now

to maybe prove I'm not making this stuff up, is anybody here you could raise your hand and say, oh, I get it. My relationship with Jesus has changed my life as well. Anybody? Like raise your hand if that's you. Okay. 10 of us. The other service had a lot more Jesus loving people in it but this is awesome.

So for the 10 of you, I mean, to be honest though, let me ask you again, because it's, know, yeah, you know, like Jesus changed my life and now let's sing a song. It's all ambiguous and and just kind of religious chatter, but no, honestly, and specifically, if you've experienced life change

as the direct result of your relationship with Jesus, raise your hand. I wanna see if if I'm not. Okay. Okay. Now we're warming up. I see it's the truth. It happens. But let me ask us this question. Is it possible to have a genuine encounter with Christ and remain the same? Is it possible to genuinely experience who he is

and stay just as we are? I think in John nine we're gonna meet someone who has a strong opinion to that question. So let's go there and look at this

scenario. It's incredible an chapter

what we're gonna do we're gonna fly through the whole chapter and then we're gonna unpack it so take some time I encourage you to read it later in more detail and spend some time in it and just really unpacking it and seeing how God speaks to you even in more ways than today. Let me set it up by mentioning John chapter eight because in John chapter eight, Jesus is sparring with the Pharisees,

these religious leaders and elitists of the day And it's pretty obvious why. The whole book of John as we saw in chapter 20 was to really confirm his identity as God in the flesh. And these folks did not like that idea. In fact, Jesus says in John eight, he says, I'm the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. That's a pretty strong statement. He then goes on and and refers to their comments about Abraham, the father of their faith. Like, well,

Abraham was a father of our faith. He's a big deal. Yeah. He was a big deal. He's a great man of faith. He's in holy scripture. But Jesus then gets him really mad because he says, hey, here's the deal. Before Abraham was even born, I am. And he basically says, before Abraham was born, I existed. I preexisted him.

I am the father. The father and I are one and they go crazy. And the bible says in John eight at the end of the chapter, they begin to pick up stones and they're gonna stone him, but then it says he slips away. That's where we begin chapter nine. That just happening. So let's go to John nine verse one.

You guys still with me? Alright. Here we go. John nine verse one, it says, as he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man this man or his parents that he was born blind? Now isn't that an interesting question? Maybe one that many of us wouldn't ask in our day and age.

Because back in this time in religious circles, they strongly believed that a person's suffering, specifically physical suffering was the direct result of their personal sin. Now sadly, that still exists today in a lot of circles that wherever we are physically, our physical ailments,

oh, you must have sinned or your parents must have sinned to cause that. They asked that question, who sinned? And then he says something in in, verse three that's been, I don't know, or controversial over the years and he says this, he says, neither this man nor his parents sinned but this happened

so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We're gonna read in just a moment that Jesus is really focused on mission critical stuff in this season of his life and he's unwilling to be distracted by some theological rabbit trail and so he doesn't really answer the question directly like

is his suffering the result of personal sin but what he does say is neither well actually he does in a way he says well neither he he it's his sin or his parents sin. Now for those of guys who read the bible you might be familiar with Romans chapter three that says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So obviously Jesus isn't saying they are without sin, he is saying his suffering isn't the result of their personal sin but he doesn't go a whole lot deeper than that other than inferring by saying you know regardless of what caused this, God's gonna use it for his glory. I don't know about you but that gives me hope

that regardless of where you and I may be in our situation in life right now, God can still use it for his glory. Let's keep on going and read through this a little bit. Go down to verse four.

Here's his urgency. He says, as long as it's day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Verse six, after this, he spit on the ground and all the men say, amen. Right? I

thought that was funny, but it's not. Okay. After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. Now think about this with me for just a moment. I find this highly entertaining. Jesus,

it's almost like he's saying, hey, once you guys figure you think you have me figured out, I'm gonna be so unconventional and do something so unexpected outside the box that you just make your head spin. He literally spits on the ground and makes a little little spit and dirt mortar to rub in the guy's eyes. Now,

I don't spit a whole lot. I do sometimes I'm running and other things like that. But anyway, I would imagine it takes a lot of spit to make a little mud. Think about it for a moment. I mean, I'm just speculating. That was one of those moments where, you know, you gotta kinda

work something up because you gotta have a lot of substance to make some mud. He spits on the ground. Jesus, the son of God, makes a little mud and rubs it in the guy's eyes. I just find that really entertaining and unorthodox. And then it says this, in verse seven,

Jesus says to the guy, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. So the man went and washed and came home seeing. Now, again, the entertaining piece of this to me is Jesus, we have seen you do some amazing miracles and that you've turned water into wine. You've healed lepers. You've restored those who can't walk and

here you are taking a gentleman who is blind and you choose not to heal him in the moment but you say to the blind guy, now go somewhere else and wash. I'm just talking to myself because this is so funny. I'm like, what what's up with that? And then so the guy goes, does what he says, the miracle happens.

And in this, he's literally fulfilling prophecy in Isaiah 35 that the blind are gonna see and we'll see here in a moment that it's not just the physical, it's the spiritual. Jesus uses this man for perhaps one of the greatest object lessons in the history of humankind.

Performing a miracle that's never been done to prove something spiritual is being done. Let's go to the next verse, verse eight. So he goes home and says, neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging, so not only is he blind but he's begging for sustenance,

they ask him, isn't this the same man who used to sit and and beg? Ten year class reunion? Who are you? Some claimed that he was, others said, no, it's his doppelganger. He only looks like him. But he himself insisted, I am the man. Everybody say, I am the man. I am man.

They ask, how then were your eyes open? He replies the man they called Jesus he made some mud, he put it on my eyes, he told me to go to Salom and wash so I went and washed and then I could see.

Where is this man they asked? I don't know, he said. Everybody say, I don't know. I don't know. So what's interesting about this is his neighbors are witnessing a conundrum. They don't know what to do with this. Like, this is a miracle.

How did this happen? Who did this? They're hearing the story, and they remember something though. They remember it's the Sabbath, and they're thinking, this might be a miracle, but, naughty naughty. It happened on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is no touchy. Don't do any work. No one don't lift a finger, not even to help someone like this. So they take the guy to the religious leaders, and they say, this guy looks like a miracle has happened, but it happened on the Sabbath. So the religious leaders, the Pharisees begin to interrogate him.

Tell us what happened. Well, and his story stays consistent. This guy named Jesus came up and he spit on the ground, he made some mud, he rubbed at my eyes, he told me to go to the pool and wash, I I did and now I can see.

Well, this isn't right because this is on the Sabbath so that's a sin. So certainly, if that's a sin, this man is not from God. And then the other Pharisees, they start to get divided amongst themselves, which religion does really well, and they say, well, if he's a sinner but a miracle's happened, how could that happen if he's not from God? This doesn't make sense. And they keep grilling the guy and interrogating him. And finally, the guy, they say, who do you think he is? And the guy says,

he's a prophet.

Well, they look at him more as a problem than a prophet. So they have the guy kinda go sit in the lobby, listen to the wait listen to the waiting room music, and they call in his parents, and they grill them as well. Is this your son? Yeah. This is our son. Was he blind at birth? Yeah. He was blind at birth, and, obviously he can now see. Yeah, well tell us, how how did this happen? And they were like, uh-uh.

I'm not going there. Because they were afraid of getting kicked out of the synagogue, the church of the day. Because if they were to affirm who Jesus was, they would be booted out. So they say, he's old enough, you talk to him.

So they don't get a whole lot out of mom and dad, they call the guy back in and they keep the interrogation going and here's what it says. Go down to verse 24. A second time they summoned the man who'd been blind, give glory to God by telling a truth they said, we know this man is a sinner.

Verse 25, he replies, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see. And they continue to interrogate him and they're grilling him and he keeps saying the same thing. And finally he says to him, why do you guys keep questioning me so much? Do you too wanna be his disciples?

Into that, they lose it. They are ticked. And then literally say it back to him, read this later, they say, how dare you lecture us? You were steeped in sin at birth. Who are you to speak to us in that way as if they weren't steeped in sin at birth? And then it says they kicked him out. Don't you love religion? Jesus

hears he was kicked out. Let's go read this a moment and then we're gonna unpack this stuff. Verse 35,

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out and when he found him he said do you believe in the of man? Who is he sir? The man asked. Tell me so that I may believe in him. So check this out, the man knows Jesus was the source of his healing but he's yet to connect that to Jesus being the Messiah

And Jesus says to him in verse 37, you've now seen him. In fact, he's the one speaking with you. Why Jesus speaks in third person? I don't know. But verse 38, the man says, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him which is really the only reasonable response when we really see Jesus for who he really is. Lord, I worship you.

And then Jesus says in verse 39, for judgment I've come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind and he's really referring to the spiritual aspect. So those who are spiritually blind from who God really is can see him more clearly.

And for those who think they've got God figured out and think they see him clearly are gonna realize they're more blind than they think. I would suggest this man's opinion to the question that we asked would be this, that a genuine encounter with Christ changes your life.

And I think he would agree with many of us who raised our hand and said my relationship with Jesus has resulted in change in my life. Look at verse 25 again. He says, don't know if he's a sinner. Whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see.

And isn't that really kind of the the subtitle or the tagline for us who are followers of Jesus in our life story? I was fill in the blank, but now I fill in the blank. I was spiritually blind, disinterested

in the things of God. Maybe I didn't even believe in God. I had no perspective on who he might be, but at some point he got my attention, revealed himself to me. I surrendered my life to Christ. I was spiritually blind, and now I see him more clearly.

Not perfectly, but a whole lot more clearly. I was all about me. The universe revolves around Scott and then I surrendered my life to Christ and I love to serve. I was so full of fear about what was gonna happen when my heart stops beating and I step into eternity,

but now I know because of my relationship with Christ and it revealed through God's word for me, the follower of Jesus, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I was addicted, but through my relationship with Christ, I now I'm free.

I was so full of anxiety and lacking peace, but now my relationship with Jesus, I'm experiencing more and more and increasing peace that surpasses understanding. I was blank, but now I am blank. Isn't that the story of our life if we're a follower of Christ?

That God is changing us and transforming us more into his image for his glory. There's a verse in Matthew chapter four I think, in my opinion, gives a really good definition of what it means to be a Christian. And many of you will know it, I'll just say it. Jesus says to those who are interested in him, follow me

and I will make you into fishers of men. How many you guys have heard that before? Pretty well known statement. Think about this for a moment. There's kinda three pieces to it though if we dissect it. Follow me and I will make you into something you currently aren't. I will make you into

fishers of men. He uses their vocation to illustrate a different mission in life. So here's how I would break it down. I would suggest that a Christian is someone who's following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and committed to the mission of Jesus.

Follow me, I will make you into fishers of men. Change is part of the package and the plan that God has for you and for me. The exciting thing about that at least for me is that we're not stuck with our stuff. Think about it like, think about your stuff. You know the stuff that just

makes life a little harder than maybe it needs to be or messes with our relationships or makes things unhealthy or maybe even gets between, or hinders our relationship with God like, you know, our stuff. Anybody got stuff? I've got like, I'd raise all four limbs if I could, like stuff.

Let's go after change with our stuff. Let's expect God. Let's honor God by expecting him to bring transformation in the areas of our stuff that are less than what he wants us to be. Change is part of the journey for the follower of Jesus. A genuine encounter with Christ changes our life

but it kind of begs the question doesn't it? Okay, Scott, well how do I go about experiencing or pursuing that change? Maybe you're here at Rock Point just kind of checking it out and and you're thinking interesting. If this is true, then how do I experience

change in the stuff of my life? Like, what do I do? What's my part in it? Or maybe you're you're a you're a you're a Christian and maybe your I was blank but now I'm blank. Maybe that story is twenty years old and you honestly haven't experienced transformation

in the last twenty years. Your story is a little out of date. It's true. It's part of your story

but wouldn't it be awesome if our story was more recent than that like here's what God has done recently in my life. How do we go after that kind of stuff? Well I think in John nine it gives us a good foundation of how do we engage

in this change that God wants to bring about in our life. I think it also reveals to us how to remain the same and that one's easy. Look at the Pharisees.

If you wanna remain the same, let's be just like them. In reading through John nine, you see that these folks were full of arrogance, prejudice, and pride. And one sure way to never experience life change in a relationship with Jesus is to be full of arrogance, prejudice, and pride. It just won't happen.

But we see in the guy that was blind, who was a beggar, how to posture ourself to experience change and here's what he did. He was full of humility and obedience. He humbly allowed Jesus to spit in his eye, like rub the mud in his eyes. Now granted he didn't see it coming.

It's true. But think about this for a moment. When Jesus is rubbing mud in his eyes, I mean, stood there and took it. He could have went, oh, get away from me. What are you doing? You crazy, man. Get your hands off my face. It's just weird. He could have done that. He stood there with humility and allowed Jesus to rub this

concoction in his eyes.

Then he could have chose like, you know, get away from me or stood there and and and try you know, just take it to get this guy out of his face and then when Jesus says go to the pool and wash, what he could have done is like, I'm going alright but I'm not going to any pool. You got you're crazy man. I'm getting out of here.

No, he did what Jesus told him to do. Full of humility and obedience and I wanna suggest that's the posture in which you and I receive from God that he changes our life. Let me go deep with you for a moment. You know, get on your theological scuba gear because you guys that know me know that I love to go deep. Right?

Super, super deep. Here it is. You might wanna write this down. It's kinda profound. I'm kinda proud of myself. This. Do what Jesus says. Receive what he gives. Isn't that deep? Isn't that awesome?

Do what he says. Receive what he gives. Some of you are thinking, oh, man, Scott, you you had my hopes up. I thought we were gonna get more cerebral than that.

Like, I thought we were gonna break into some Greek languages and maybe some present participles and dissect the original languages and and come back to the same conclusion that their modern translation. Look at go. Do what Jesus says, receive what he gives.

Come to him with a posture of humility and obedience and take it to the bank, we'll begin to experience more and more transformation in our life.

Pretty simple. Here's something else that we're gonna we'll kind of wrap up the whole conversation with that I get out of this I think is really helpful and maybe encouraging for many of us. Go back to verse 25 again. Remember he's he's being interrogated and these these religious leaders,

they're trying to discredit his story really. Trying to disprove this and again he says whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see. And in this I think what you and I might benefit from is grabbing on to this thought.

Don't give up what you do know for what you don't know. Don't give up what you know God has done, that only God alone could have done in your life for the things about God that you don't know at this point. Don't give up what you do know for what you don't know. Our family, we've got six in our family,

my my wife and I and our three kids and our dog, that's six of us. And during Christmas time, we added a seventh member to the family and she's, I I think I can say it's a she. Her name is Alexa.

I fell in love with Alexa from day one. From the moment we plugged her in, my life changed. The reason I love Alexa so much is that she has quickly become the most cooperative member of our family. She without fail will do what I ask, answer the questions I ask her. I am just so in love with Alexa.

It's changed my life. She's changed my life. I mean, little I'm like, Alexa, what's the temperature? The temperature outside in Folsom, California is 62 degrees with a low of 53 blah blah blah. Alexa, thank you. You're welcome. Alexa, play Journey. Don't stop believing.

Play Bon Jovi, Bad Medicine. I can go like all eighties and everything. It's so cool like right there. And she just plays it. I'm like, oh, I'd love you. Why don't my other children behave and like fashion? It is so awesome for me, Alexa. One of my favorite questions to ask Alexa is, Alexa,

tell me what happened this day in history. And so every day I get this little historical tidbit that I find really interesting. Might even be able to bring up in conversation later. It says, I I love Alexa. Just about literally maybe ten days ago, I'm cooking breakfast.

I'm in the kitchen and I've got some toast in the toaster and I'm frying up some eggs and I'm also pan frying some spinach. Now, don't really like the flavor of spinach.

I just eat it because somebody told me it's good for me. So to get my greens, I'm eating spinach. Now, if they ever come out and say that spinach is actually not good for you, I'm gonna be like so mad at some people. I'm gonna be it's not gonna be a good day. But the way that I cook spinach that I've always done it for the past few years is pretty simple. Put a little butter in the pan, put this big heaping,

load of spinach in the pan in the pan, and it reduces down pretty fast. Little salt, little pepper, cook it up till it looks really gross, and then it's done. It's ready to be eaten. And I'm literally standing there doing that, like, with my left hand, do you know, the eggs, and then the right hand, stirring the spinach and a thought hits me, you know, I've been doing this for a few years and I've never looked up how to really cook spinach.

Is this the right way? How long should I do this? So I asked Alexa. And Alexa's behind us in the kitchen on the counter and so I'm kind of doing the cooking thing. I'm like, And I say, how long should I pan fry spinach? Alexa responds, I don't know. I was just like frozen. I'm like, Alexa, I held you with such high esteem.

I mean, you've I've never heard Alexa say, I don't know. I was taken aback. I didn't I was like confused. What am I gonna do? I mean, do I walk over and unplug Alexa and throw it in the trash and say, away with me. You don't have the answer to spinach. How do you have any answers? Of course not. We won't do that.

So don't give up what you do know for what you don't know. Just because you and I have experienced life change because our relationship with Jesus doesn't mean that we have all answers to all the questions, especially

when you start sharing your story about what God has done and someone chooses to interrogate you, maybe even try to discredit the source of that change in your life, just like this guy. I mean come on Scott. Jesus has changed your life. Really? Yeah. You look different. Your language has expanded.

You don't do certain things anymore and yeah. So you tell me that this whole Jesus thing, know, okay, the weird church person, the God thing, he's changed your life. Okay, well tell me this mister mister God guy, Jesus changed my life guy. Creation or evolution? I mean, doesn't

science lend itself to supporting the evolutional perspective? But hey, okay, so you're a God guy. So you're, you know, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So okay, so you you believe that God's the source of intelligent design.

Okay. Well, tell me this, mister God changed your life then. If you believe in creation, do you believe in a young earth creationism or an old earth creationism? Like, did God create the earth literally in six days? Is the earth 6,000

years old? Or would you more support an old earth perspective where carbon dating says the earth is 4,600,000,000 years old? Like, tell me that, mister God changed my life.

I was blind, but now I see. I don't have to have all the answers. I don't know. No. No. That's that's insufficient, Scott. Mister God changed your life. Tell me this, since God changed your life because we know from you know anthropology

that the sapiens overcame the Neanderthals but the Neanderthals were the stronger race so was it really the cognitive revolution that enabled the sapiens to outflank the Neanderthals and overcome them and that's why we're all homo sapiens today. Is that the reason? Like, I don't know but I was blind. Now I see.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Not not gonna let you off the hook. That that easy.

If God so loves everybody like you say he does, why are there so many religions and why would you claim as a Christian that there's a very narrow path to the father? Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Tell me about that. Mean, how does that express love? I was blind but now I see. I was addicted. Now I'm free. No.

That's cool. Good for you. It's a good crutch. Like, come on Scott. What do you have to say about Bill Nye the science guy? Like what he says. Tell me this mister God changed your life Scott Jesus guy. If God created Adam and Eve, did they have a belly button?

I find it entertaining watching you with that question. Some of you were like, my

faith has been shaken at church.

I I you know, I would I would expect because there wasn't an umbilical cord necessary that he didn't, but I I don't know. But I do know I was blind, but now I see. Don't give up what you do know for what you don't know. Now there will come a time and I strongly encourage that we actually

seek out some of those legitimate questions, answers to those honest, good questions. And there, I could give you my personal answers to every single one of those

except for the sapiens, Neanderthal, science supports that. But anyway, let's go. Let me show you something. Here's what it says. As we grow in our faith, scripture says in first Peter chapter three verse 15, instead you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.

And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. There is a place in our faith that we have answers. But I'm telling you, when it comes to how God transformed your life, sometimes the only honest explanation is, I don't know how, but I do know who. Jesus.

This happened as a direct result of my relationship with Christ. That's the best answer and the most honest accurate answer that I can give you. I was fill in the blank, but now I am fill in the blank. You see a genuine encounter with Christ, it'll change your life and many of us attest to that.

Come to him with humility and obedience and don't give up what you do know for the things that you still don't know. You don't have to have all of the answers. Here's something else in this chapter that I'm gonna close this out with that's I think encouraging. Go back to verse three and let's reread this for a moment

because they ask him who sinned. Right? This guy or his parents said he's born blind. Neither this man nor his parents sinned but this happened so that, everybody say so that, the works of God might be displayed in him. That's awesome. Regardless of what caused it, God can use it for his glory. Regardless

of where you and I may be, maybe the direct result of our own negligence, our own disobedience, our own bad choices, or the victim of someone else's choices, or the product or the recipient of a broken sinful world, regardless of what caused it,

if we submit our hearts and surrender our life to Christ, God can use it for his glory. What if our biggest struggles, stuff, maybe even our darkest moments in life, God used for his glory? I'm not suggesting God caused it, What if he used it? What if your story, I was blank. Now I'm blank. What if God uses your story to in turn now

make you and me the light of the world. Because that's what he says. You are now as his followers the light to the world. Yeah. Our good deeds show our faith. Sharing the message of Christ is highly important, critical, but what if you're just a walking billboard for what God has done in your life? You put your life on display

and it brings glory to God. You don't have to explain the house. You just sow here's who and it can happen for you as well. A genuine encounter with Christ changes your life. You know in Romans chapter eight where it says,

God calls all things to work for the good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. John nine gives me a little more perspective on that.

Even in our suffering, as we seek him for comfort, God can use our story for his glory and to reveal himself to other people. That's kind of what I got out of walking through John nine and I hope it was encouraging for you and helpful. Can I pray for us? Let's pray. Father God, man this is such an awesome chapter.

Thank you for recording it for us, for just giving us the story of this account God. I find it incredibly entertaining but so convicting and inspiring Lord. God, may we hunger for change in our life. God, may we honor you by pursuing and expecting transformation.

God, I pray for my friends here who are who are followers of Jesus and maybe have been for many years God, would we just hunger anew

for life change? May our story of I was this and now I'm that, thank you for the stories that are 20 years old, the stories that are 10 years old, maybe even older or five years old, but God, a story in us this year and change our life even more. May we shed some of the stuff

and experience more of Christ in our life. And God, our friends who are here with us today or even joining us online in this moment that are simply exploring who you may be and what Jesus you are all about God. May you nudge their heart today

revealing yourself to them and then maybe even before they go to sleep tonight, they'd simply pray God, I choose to believe that you're there, that you hear me. Would you lead me in my life? Would you forgive me of my stuff, of my sin? Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Thank you for dying on that cross in my place.

It's like I can be forgiven and free. Jesus, I wanna experience change in my life as a result of my relationship with you. And God, may you just put on their heart a simple prayer to surrender to you. And we thank you for that in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.