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Bob Davis: You put all kinds of weight on the backs of the regular people and then you don't lift a finger to help them carry the load you're putting on them. You're giving them the weirdest rules and you're making their lives miserable so they're starting to hate the Sabbath instead of thanking God for the break, the Sabbath break. They're turning the people away from God with all these dopey rules.

Narrator (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply his word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. The blind man that Jesus healed is questioned by the religious leaders as our study of John continues in chapter 9, verse 13. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Jesus healed a blind man who was blind from birth. He can still do it today. God is almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing. Verse 13 of John chapter 9 says, "They"—who's they? The people—"They brought to the Pharisees him that was" or "that aforetime was blind." That guy that was blind from birth that Jesus healed, they brought him to the Pharisees. And in a minor chord, "and it was the Sabbath day" when Jesus did two things against the law.

He made the mud. Remember he spit on the ground, made mud, and he smeared it in that guy's eyes and said, "Go and wash in the pool of Siloam." And the guy did and he came back seeing. He was born blind and he had never seen a day in his life until today. So it was the Sabbath day, verse 14, when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. In other words, not only is healing on the Sabbath breaking the Sabbath, but so is spitting on the ground and making mud.

Now the Bible doesn't say that. Those are the rules of the holy folks. I promise you, you go to some churches and they're going to tell you things you never heard in your life, like that it's a sin to roller-skate and it's a sin to have a car that costs more than $20,000. You'd be amazed at the things people tell you are sins. Just know what the Bible says and don't fret over the strange things. Jesus won't. It does get him in trouble, though.

"How is it possible? You say you were born blind? Yeah. How is it possible?" He said to them, "He put clay, mud on my face, on my eyes, smeared it on my eyes, and I washed, and I do see now." The people were so thrilled with this miracle that they brought him to the Pharisees. Why to the Pharisees? They're the Jewish leaders. They were the considered expert authorities when it came to religion and the law. They were the final authority and they wanted the Pharisees to see this. He was born blind and now he can see.

So they bring him to the Pharisees. Well, the Pharisees ask the man, "How did you do that? How did you receive your sight?" Notice, everyone, they don't care that he can see. There's no excitement from them. "Wait a minute. Happened today? What? That's against the law!" "Well, I've been born blind. I can see." "Well, that's your problem. So you can see. So what? I want to know who did this and why."

They don't care. We're Christians. We're supposed to care about people. "I don't like her. I don't like him. And I don't like the actor." What is wrong with everybody? So they ask him, "How'd you receive your sight?" They don't care that he's got his sight. They're not going, "I am amazed. That is so cool. Good for you. How did it happen?" They are just asking, "How did it happen, dude? This is weird."

The man answered, "He made some mud, smeared it on my face, my eyes, and I washed it off and I can see now. That's how it happened. I can't explain it to you any further than that." The religious experts determined that making mud on the Sabbath is a violation of the Sabbath law, number one. He could be thrown out of the synagogue. He could get all kinds of punishment. He could be put to death.

Making mud on the Sabbath was a violation of the Sabbath law. Healing on the Sabbath was a violation of the Sabbath law. Poor Jesus. You'd think he would know the word of God better than that, huh? Really, I'm just joking. Those things were not forbidden by the law. It's just that the elders and the Sadducees, the doctors of law, added these things to make it more clear to the people. "Well, you can't work on the Sabbath." "Well, what is work?" They'll say lifting anything that's heavier than a dried fig is one of the things. You can't lift anything heavier than a dried fig on the Sabbath. That means if you've got false teeth, you can't pick them up and put them in.

If you do, you've broken the Sabbath law. Jesus is going, "You guys are weird!" It's nothing like what God had in mind for the Sabbath. Nothing like it. "Therefore," said some of the Pharisees, "this man is not of God." They're talking about Jesus, not the blind guy. "Because he keepeth not the Sabbath day." See, if you were of God, you'd keep the Sabbath day. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath day?

Of course he did. As a Jewish man, of course he did. But remember, they made up so many rules that God never put there. That's what he tells them when he's rebuking them in Matthew 23. He says, "You put all kinds of weight on the backs of the regular people and then you don't lift a finger to help them carry the load you're putting on them. You're giving them the weirdest rules and you're making their lives miserable so they're starting to hate the Sabbath instead of thanking God for the break, the Sabbath break." Get it?

"Therefore, some of the Pharisees said, this man is not of God. Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do these kinds of miracles? And there was a division among them." They say unto the blind man, "What do you say of him, that he opened thine eyes?" He said, "He's a prophet." So look at this. They are now divided.

Jesus, didn't he say, "I didn't come to bring peace to the earth. I came to bring a sword"? It kind of splits people. That's what he just did right here. Pharisees instantly determined, "This is not a man of God." How come? "Well, it was done on the Sabbath. How could he be a man of God and break the Sabbath? He can't." Well, some of the others argued, "What do you mean? Who can do miracles like this unless they are from God?"

Jesus said this. People would have to decide if they were for him or against him. He said this to his disciples, "If they are for me, they are not against me. And if they are against me, they are not for me." You can't be both. It divides almost instantly. And you're either one or the other, you're not both. The man has never seen Jesus in his life. He's talked with him, he's heard him, but he's never seen him.

They say, "What do you say about him?" His heart's telling him something. So he says this, "What do I say he is? I say he's a prophet." What does he mean? That means he believed that Jesus is sent by God himself. The prophets were all sent by God and the prophets had a specific message for the world. So he says, "I think that's what this guy is. He's a prophet. He's sent by God." And so verse 18, we see this.

But the Jews—the Pharisees, the leaders—they did not believe concerning this man that he had been blind. They didn't believe it. "I don't believe that you were born blind. I believe you've been pretending and now today you say you could see." They did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight until they called his parents. He's in front of the court. The Pharisees are there and they're just looking at him now. "I say he's a prophet." They go, "This guy's nuts. He's playing a game with us. He wasn't blind. You know what? We'll get to the bottom of this. Call his parents." So now they have to come in as witnesses.

They asked his parents saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then can he see now?" His parents answered them—and look how respectful they are, and they're afraid by the way, they're afraid. The Pharisees hold all the power. They can do whatever they want to you. If they think you said something they think is blasphemy, they pick up rocks and stone you to death. Or they could throw you out of church.

His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son and we know that he was born blind. But by what means he now sees, how does he see? We don't know. Or who has opened his eyes? We don't know. He is old enough. Ask him. He'll speak for himself." Now that's not being rude. As a matter of fact, that's being very afraid. Look at verse 22. These words spoke his parents because they were afraid of the Jews. Why? Well, the Jews had agreed already that if any individual did confess that Jesus was Messiah, that he should be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore, his parents said, "He is our son and he was born blind. But we can't tell you how come he can see. We don't know. You'll have to ask him. He's old enough. He'll answer for himself." So they called the parents in to testify. All right, you see, they've already put out a proclamation. Anybody who says Jesus is Messiah will be excommunicated. When it says "put you out of the synagogue," that means you can't ever come back to church. They're kicking you out of church. And there was only one church in Jerusalem.

That means if you can't come to church, you cannot obey the law. You cannot do the sacrifices that you should be doing. You can't pray. You can't offer to the Lord any sacrifice. You can't give to the Lord in any way. You are out. Excommunicated. So they warned everybody. The parents were a little nervous. Call the parents in to testify. "Is this your son?" "Yes, it is." "Was he born blind?" "Yes." "Are you sure it's your kid?" "He's ours." "Was he born blind?" "Yes."

"Then how come he can see right now?" They answer respectfully and a little fearfully. "He is our son. Yes, he was born blind. But as to how he can see, we have no answer. We don't even know what to say. You'll have to ask him. He's probably in his 40s, so he's plenty old enough. You'll have to ask him. We don't know." They called again the man that was blind and said to him, "Give God the praise. We know that this man, Jesus, is a sinner."

So we want you to give God the praise. He answered and he said, "Whether he be a sinner or not, I don't know that. I've never even seen the guy," basically is what he's saying. "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." Then they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them and said, "I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to be his disciples?" Now he's starting to catch on that they're jerks.

Then they reviled him. They put him in his place now. They said, "You are his disciple. We are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses. As for this fellow, Jesus, we know not where he comes from." They called the man back in to cross-examine him after his parents were witnesses. But they get serious. "Give God the praise. We know this man, Jesus, is a sinner. Swear under oath that you don't believe he's a Messiah. We know he's a sinner. So give God the praise," meaning swear, take an oath before the Lord that you agree with us that he's a sinner.

This beggar, remember, he was blind and that's what he did for a living his whole life. He was a beggar. But this beggar, I think, was pretty bold. When they warned him, he didn't like that. He says, "Look, you say he's a sinner? I don't know whether he's a sinner or not. I can't tell you anything about him. I wouldn't even know him if he walked up right now and shook my hand. I wouldn't know it was him unless he told me. I've never seen the guy."

"I don't know who he is or anything about him. You seem to think you know a lot, but I don't. This is what I do know." In other words, let me put it in another language, "This is my testimony right here. I was blind and now I see." And none of them could deny his testimony. No matter what you call Jesus or what you think about him, no one can deny a guy says, "Look, I can't explain to you anything here except for I was blind and now I can see. You deal with it."

And do you know, Christian, that there's one thing nobody can take from you or deny, and that's your very own testimony. Nobody. So when you say, "I don't know what to share with people. I just tell people that Jesus loves them and I can show them a few scriptures." Okay, tell them what Jesus has done for you! You just go back to the day you were saved. You may not remember the date. You may not remember what day it was, but you can remember what you were doing, whether you were praying or whether you walked to the front in church or whether you were sitting in a Denny's. You can remember.

And you could say, "God changed my heart that day. I received Jesus Christ and things started to change and I'm totally different than I was. I'm not really... I'm not done." Paul says we haven't arrived yet, but there's a difference in me. It's changed. No one can deny your testimony. They can reject your Jesus, but they can't deny your testimony. The world can mock you, the world can threaten you, they can try to intimidate you, try to shut you up, but they can never change your testimony. It's yours. And everybody's is different. Yours is yours.

Then the Jewish leaders, they basically yell at him because he says, "Do you want to become his disciples too? Is that why you're so interested in this guy?" Okay, that sets them off. They yell at him. "You are his disciple. We are Moses' disciples. Moses! That's holy. Listen, we know that God spoke to Moses. As for this Jesus guy, we don't know where this guy comes from or what he's all about." So verse 30 tells us this.

The man answered and said, "Why, herein is a marvelous thing" or an amazing thing. Now he is reasoning with them with logic. They're not, he is. He says, "Why, herein is a marvelous thing. You know not from whence he is, in other words, you don't know where he came from, yet he opened my eyes. He healed my blindness. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God and does his will, God hears him."

What did he just say? "You call him a sinner, but I doubt that because he healed me. I was completely blind and now I can see. That's the power of God. I don't know who this guy is, but that's the power of God. Since the world began," verse 32, "it is not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. Even you guys gotta know that," he's saying. "If this man were not of God, he couldn't have done it. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing."

Okay, that hurt their feelings. They answered and said to him, "You was altogether born in sins. And do you teach us?" And they cast him out. The language means they kicked him out of the synagogue. They excommunicated this man. He now can't worship the Lord no more according to the Mosaic Covenant. What's he going to do?

So verse 35 says this, "Jesus heard that they had cast him out" — excommunicated — "and when he found him" — Jesus went looking for him. "Found him" means Jesus was out saying, "I'm going to find this guy." Found him. When he found him, he said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" This man doesn't know who Jesus is. He's never seen him.

Think this through. This is so cool. Jesus comes looking for a man that everybody's saying can't worship God no more. You're out. "Do you believe in the Son of God?" And this man answered and said, "Who is he, Lord?" "Lord" in this case translates "sir." "Who is he, sir, that I might believe on him? I want to believe on him." He's in other words, "I'm waiting for Messiah. Who is he?"

And look at verse 37. Jesus said to him, "You have both seen him and it is he speaking with you now." That is so cool. Here's a man who's thrown out of church and never welcomed back, and Jesus goes to find him. Jesus finds out that this man's kicked out of the synagogue. He goes looking for him. Take note. They didn't want this man. Who did? Jesus. We ought to be careful because there are a lot of people out there that feel like no church wants them.

They need to be told Jesus wants them. They need to be told they're welcome with the true followers of Jesus Christ, wherever those true followers gather together. There's no way we would ever say to them, "You're not welcome here." This is what he says. Jesus said, "You have both seen him and it is he that's talking to you." And he said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshipped him right there.

God almighty in human flesh. The man's response was instantaneous, immediate. He didn't wait three weeks to think about it. He didn't say, "I'm going to talk it over with my mom and dad or my wife..." He doesn't wait for nothing. He just says, "Lord, I believe." "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped Jesus as the Son of God. As the Son of God. So here's a question for you, Christian. Not non-believer, but for you Christians.

Do you think this man was born again at that moment? You really think he was? So do I. He was. So quit thinking it about yourself. "Well, I'm not sure if I'm saved." I say, did you give your life to Jesus Christ and say, "I believe"? You say, "Yeah." Then you're born again right then and there. By grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. And you're washed in the blood of the Lamb and the Holy Spirit has taken up residency in you and the Holy Spirit will never be taken away. So quit listening to this and say, "You lose your salvation if you do the wrong thing." Who does the right thing ever?

And Jesus said—and he's not just speaking to this man, but whoever else is standing around listening—Jesus said, "For judgment, I am come into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind." Some of the Pharisees which were there and heard these words said to him, "Are we blind too? Are you saying we're blind?"

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remains." So that's easy to understand. The blind who come to see are those which humbly admit that they don't know, humbly admit their weaknesses and their helplessness, like that man so they can see. But the ones who claim that they see—the braggers and the holy people, the fakers, the Sadducees and the doctors of the law and the scribes and the Pharisees...

The ones who claim to see are actually blind and don't see at all. Notice, they said, "We're disciples of Moses." If they were truly disciples of Moses, they would have believed in Jesus Christ. They aren't disciples of Moses. They're making this stuff up. They're reading the Bible and making it say something it doesn't say and adding to it and making other people put weights on their backs to hold them down from walking good.

And Jesus says the ones who claim to see, they're actually blind because of their pride or their self-exaltation. The Pharisees are offended, some hear him talking. "Are we blind also?" Jesus answers, and it's a good answer. If you were truly blind, you could actually claim ignorance. But he says, "You say you are spiritual leaders." In other words, "You say you understand spiritual things. You are then willfully sinning because you don't understand spiritual things and refuse to study and learn and grow."

He says, "You have no excuses at that point. You're guilty, you're sinning." That's why we stay in the word. Why? Because we don't understand and we want to grow and we want to see more and more and more and more. Jesus wants to be with you. The man who was thrown out and unwanted by the church, Jesus said, "I want you. Come with me. You come with me."

Narrator (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is the radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at northcountrychapel.com/studies. That's northcountrychapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho, 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events. If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse by verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.