Full transparency, I think I was supposed to post this a year ago following Charlie Kirk’s passing.  I felt the Spirit stir this message in my heart, but I didn’t want to offend or annoy anyone, so I kept it in my drafts.  A year later, God continues to bring me back to this message… So I’m posting in obedience to Him. Delayed, yet I still want to obey.

In John 9, Jesus healed a man who had been blind since birth.  This man, who was blind his entire life, was miraculously healed by Jesus.  There were witnesses, he was once blind, now he sees.  Neighbors and those around the blind man saw that the blind man was now healed and they began questioning the man on how it was that he was healed. “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash.  So I went and washed, and then I could see.” John 9:11  The fact is that we know this man could not see his entire life, but now Jesus gave him sight. The absolute truth is that the man was blind his entire life and now he sees… that is the truth.  The people couldn’t believe this miracle, so they went and got the Pharisees to investigate the healing of this blind man. The Pharisees, who were the influential religious leaders within Judaism in the early church, known for their strict beliefs of the law, began to question the healing and specifically the day he was healed on. “Now the day in which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath”. John 9:14 This poses a big issue to the Pharisees because according to the law, the Sabbath is made for people to rest, not work on that day and “healing a man of blindness” was seen as “work” to the Pharisees.  Without them realizing it, the law was more important than the miracle. According to the Pharisees and their interpretation of the law… their strict observance of the law, the way they believed the Sabbath to be held, healing someone in need would go against the Sabbath, which goes against the law (which in their mind goes against God). The Pharisees hear that this man is healed by Jesus, and rather than celebrating his new sight and the one who gave him his sight, the Pharisees focus on what they see to be wrong.  “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” John 9:16  Warning.

A man who was blind can now see.  An “ordinary” man gave the blind man sight.  A man who begged for sight time and time again, was now walking in his miracle.  The Pharisees couldn’t see the miracle because they were too focused on the law- the way they thought it should be, the way they believed things to be “morally right”.  This is our society today.  People are so focused on what they believe to be right, what they think is loving, whoever they follow most on social media, whatever that famous person says, that they have become blinded to the absolute truth.  We don’t follow Jesus’ commands because we are so focused on all the things we’d have to deny, change, how we believe things should be, that we miss what’s right in front of us. Warning.

God tells us from the beginning to follow and trust him, not your favorite social media influencer or your own personal convictions of what you believe to be right and wrong.  I trust in God’s truth, not some new age, new way of thinking, not this “the Bible has been misinterpreted or manipulated by too many translations” belief.  Not a false gospel our society continually spreads. I trust in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Bible.  I trust in Him, who saved my life.  Isn’t it interesting that the Bible has been around for centuries and people are STILL trying to discredit it, yet no questioning or push back has ever sustained time? Yet the Bible, God’s Living Word, has in fact sustained time.  We are in a spiritually blind culture.  Warning.

Back to the blind man. The Pharisees kept questioning the miracle, some believed and some didn’t, “so they were divided.” John 9:16 Does this sound familiar? People are so focused on the “law” in their own minds, how they think it should be, coming up with their own truths, that there is extreme division.  Division outside of the body and division within the body.  The blind man who now has sight is continuing to be questioned, almost trying to discredit what he personally experienced.  “They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received sight until they sent for the man’s parents.” John 9:18 The blind man is literally giving his own testimony, his own lived experience, yet they still won’t and can’t believe.  John 9:20-23 The blind man’s parents testify that he was in fact blind his whole life, yet they tell the Pharisees to “ask him” for themselves, to let the blind man’s own lips testify to what he personally saw and experienced.  A key part is this… “‘Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.” John 9:22-23 The Pharisees didn’t care what truth they said or how they spoke their truth- they had already decided that if they acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah- they would essentially be cancelled.  Warning.

“A second time they summoned the man who had been blind, “Give glory to God and tell the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” John 9:24 Tell the truth. They were telling the truth- yet their eyes and ears were closed.  Their hearts were hard towards the truth because it wasn’t what they believed the truth should be.  They didn’t want to believe that he was the Messiah, because if they did, they’d have to deny their own religion and their own interpretation of “the law” and how they had been living.  The irony in all of this is that they said “give glory to God and tell the truth”, but the Truth was the very thing in front of them- yet they didn’t want to hear it.  “He (the blind man) replied, ‘whether he (Jesus) was a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see!” John 9:25 And yet, they question him again.  The blind man responds “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?” John 9:27 The Pharisees were so spiritually blinded, that they couldn’t believe the miracle that was right in front of them.  The Pharisees respond by hurling insults at the blind man, “you are this fellow’s disciple!” John 9:28 And for a final time, the blind man responds with the truth. “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes… Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!’ And they threw him out.” John 9:30, 32-34  They threw him out.  They threw out his testimony of Jesus.  They discredited him because they were spiritually blind.  

And then Jesus meets the blind man in his suffering… again.  John 9:35-41 summarizes that the blind man accepts Jesus.  He experienced the physical miracle first, then received backlash and persecution for the miracle and telling the truth, but now he believes.  “‘Lord, I believe’” and he worshiped him.” John 9:38 The best miracle happens last. He believes. 

Friends, specifically my Christian friends- let this be a warning to you, to me, and to all who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  If you claim Jesus as Lord, yet deny THE truth, THE Biblical truth of the Bible, let this be a warning to you.  The Pharisees thought their truth, the law, was right, but THE Truth was right in front of them… Jesus.  You may think you are following after Jesus, but I must challenge you in asking, are you following the Jesus who walked this Earth, who said “He himself is the Word” or are you following a Jesus who affirms your own truths and your own lifestyle to fit your own desires?  The Jesus I know, that is here today, walked this earth 2,000 years ago, said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.  He is the Truth, not our comfort, our religion, our desires, our preferences, our own truth.  He is the Truth.  

Deny yourself and follow me. Do not be afraid. The world doesn’t want you to follow Jesus’ commands- for they can’t see or understand how Jesus would tell us to deny ourselves, to deny what makes us happy, even if those very things are leading to death and not life.  This story in the Bible was a warning to the Pharisees then and a warning to our world today.  You can’t follow Jesus and be blind to his teachings.  You can’t follow Jesus and be blind to the Spirit.  You can’t follow Jesus and not follow his commands.  You can’t follow Jesus and not love your neighbor.  You can’t follow Jesus and close your ears.  You can’t follow Jesus and keep living in sin.  You can’t follow Jesus and affirm choices outside of God’s design for life.  You can’t follow Jesus and also follow the world.  That goes against the very thing Jesus died on the cross for.  Each time we choose the world over Jesus, we are choosing to put that lash on Jesus’ body on the cross.  This is for the believer and unbeliever.   We must open our spiritually blinded eyes to Jesus.  We are living in a spiritually blind world.  “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ “ who is the image of God.”  2 Corin. 4:4 Jesus said, ‘You have now seen him; in fact he is the one speaking with you… For Judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”  John 9:37, 39… but here’s the best part.  “Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”… John 9:40 Ask God to open your eyes to Him fully.  Ask God to open your eyes to anything that may be blinding you.  Ask God to lead you in the Truth, for we are living in a spiritually blind world.