WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.280 your guilt remains. So, through the summer, we've been thinking about some of these many 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:13.980 questions that Jesus asked during His ministry, sometimes as He was teaching, sometimes with 00:00:13.980 --> 00:00:22.839 opponents responding to them, sometimes like here in conversation. And here is a vital question. 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:31.679 It's the trust question. We have it there in verse 35. Do you believe in the Son of Man? 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:36.320 So, that's what we're going to be thinking about. But before we get there, to ask another question, 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:42.299 where has all the controversy gone? Which may seem a surprising question, because every week, 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:50.840 without fail, we will inevitably find a media storm of some kind. There will be a big announcement 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:57.540 this week. It's the return of Oasis. Sometimes the media storm is because of a celebrity fallout. 00:00:58.120 --> 00:01:04.200 Next week, because of Oasis. Sometimes it's a fall from grace, whether that's a politician 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:11.320 or some kind of significant figure. And everybody seems to have an opinion. And lines are drawn. 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:18.400 Now, we come to John chapter 9, and we should get that in this text. We have a very public figure 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:25.960 performing a very dramatic, high-profile act. There's a whole complex of different responses 00:01:25.960 --> 00:01:34.060 going on, and a storm of controversy among the leadership. Only this time, it's no celebrity. 00:01:35.140 --> 00:01:41.280 This is Jesus, the one who John's gospel, who Jesus Himself has said, who is the Son of God, 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:46.640 who is the eternal King, who is the light of the world, who is the only way to God, 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:50.640 who is the Savior for the world. These are the claims that John's gospel makes, 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:53.620 because these are the claims that Jesus makes. 00:01:55.799 --> 00:02:03.560 So, to say that, we might very well expect extreme reactions. To hear somebody say those 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:08.259 kind of things about themselves, we would expect the kind of reactions we find in the text. Some 00:02:08.259 --> 00:02:13.800 confusion, some questioning, some interrogation, some fierce opposition. 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:21.380 So, my question is, where has all the controversy gone? Because truth be told, that's not what we 00:02:21.380 --> 00:02:26.939 see today, is it? The claims of Jesus remain the same. The character of Jesus remains the same. 00:02:27.600 --> 00:02:34.220 But while some are very much for Jesus, and a few are very much against Jesus, for most people, 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:42.740 it's a general apathy. There's no impact. There's no controversy about Jesus. It's as if He's not 00:02:42.740 --> 00:02:50.159 worth attention. Sometimes, perhaps even within the Christian church, we can become so familiar 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:58.460 with the story. We put Jesus in a box, and we can easily lose sight of His glory and majesty, 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:04.860 and we miss some of this gut reaction. So, we're going to enter into the controversy to help us to 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:11.860 hear this last question from Jesus, and to think about ourselves. Do we believe? Three things to think 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:18.040 about from our text. One, are we reading the signs? Two, have we investigated His identity? And three, 00:03:18.700 --> 00:03:27.280 will we trust Him? Do we trust Him? So, we begin with these first 12 verses. Have we read the signs? 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.500 John, in his gospel, doesn't record as many miracles as any of the other gospel writers. He records 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:39.960 seven, and he calls them signs because they are signposts. They are pointers to Jesus' glory, His identity, 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:46.680 and they help us to understand something about salvation. So, here in our story in verse 1, 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.159 Jesus encounters a blind man. But as the chapter goes on, we discover that there's much more than 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:58.680 just a physical blindness. Jesus also encounters spiritual blindness. There's a lot of spiritual 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:05.540 darkness, even among the religious leaders. Well, as Jesus and His disciples walk along and they 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:12.199 encounter this blind man, we also are invited to encounter and to discover two different types of 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:21.000 logic that take place at the same time. There is the logic of legalism. Notice the disciples ask the 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:27.740 question, who sinned? This man or his parents? Somebody must have sinned. They breathe the same air as the 00:04:27.740 --> 00:04:33.159 Pharisees. We thought about that last week. The disciples were raised listening to the teaching of the 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:38.100 Pharisees. And of course, the Pharisees will say to the man, you were steeped in sin at birth. That's 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:44.660 their understanding. Same kind of understanding of how the world works and the religious system works 00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:51.820 that we find from Job's friends, his miserable comforters. Do good, and God will do good to you. 00:04:51.820 --> 00:04:58.760 If you live a good life, you will receive blessing. If bad things happen, it must be because 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:05.659 you have done something bad, you must be under some kind of curse from God. They have that very 00:05:05.659 --> 00:05:11.620 narrow black and white way of looking at things. And so, they look at this man and say, well, life is 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:19.800 bad, therefore he must be bad. So, there's the logic of legalism, but then Jesus brings the logic of grace. 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:27.800 Jesus, why is this man blind? So, that the works of God might be displayed in him. 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:33.800 Jesus is going to come revealing the glory of God, bringing the grace of God, bringing healing, 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:40.540 bringing spiritual transformation, and showing to him and to everyone around, and showing to us as well, 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:46.199 Jesus' unique identity as the Son of God revealed in a saving way. 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:53.740 As the story goes on, Jesus says some wonderful things about himself. Look at verses 3 to 5, 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:58.060 and notice these two big things that Jesus says of himself. 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:05.039 This happens so that the works of God must be displayed in him. As long as it is day, 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:11.959 we must do the works of him who sent me. Okay, so Jesus is saying, I do the works of God. 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:20.539 God. There's a sense of urgency. I must do this work. There's a sense of the closest personal 00:06:20.539 --> 00:06:27.919 connection between God the Son and God the Father that we are doing these works. This is the one who 00:06:27.919 --> 00:06:36.199 is closest to the Father's heart. We must do these works in the daytime before the night is coming. 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:43.300 Jesus understands that his mission is leading to the dark night of the cross, but during the day, 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:48.879 he wants to point people to himself as the way of salvation. So, he says, I do the works of God, 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:55.899 and he says in verse 5, while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. He's already said that 00:06:55.899 --> 00:07:05.259 of himself in John chapter 8. Light as a symbol of God's presence, of God's glory, of God's purity, 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:13.500 of God's revelation. Jesus in his public ministry is demonstrating and revealing the glory of God 00:07:13.500 --> 00:07:20.319 as he does the work of God in salvation, and here he anticipates that climaxing 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:27.860 with his death on the cross. So, having made these bold claims, I do the works of God, and I am the 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:36.920 light of the world, he then illustrates the truth with this miraculous sign. You can almost imagine 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:41.680 people hearing these claims and saying, well, prove it, Jesus. It's easy to say. It's much harder to do. 00:07:42.539 --> 00:07:47.719 So, what does Jesus do? After saying this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:53.460 put it on the man's eyes, go wash. The man went and washed and came home seeing. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:00.560 In a sense, it reminds us, doesn't it, of Genesis chapter 2, where we have that picture of God, 00:08:00.700 --> 00:08:06.440 the potter, getting his hands dirty in order to fashion the first man, Adam, from the ground. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:12.560 Here we find the creator coming into the world and getting his hands dirty to make this mud pack for 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:20.240 the man's eyes before the healing comes. And again, to bring us back to Genesis, here is the one who 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:27.399 brings light out of darkness. Here is the one with power and authority on the one hand, and love and 00:08:27.399 --> 00:08:37.480 mercy on the other. It is the Lord who gives the blind their sight. Here is a statement of authority 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:44.320 as he performs this miracle. And then we get to the reactions. The initial reactions are interesting, 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:50.960 aren't they? Verses 8 to 12, the neighbors come along and they see the man, and they see there's 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:56.899 something very different about him, and their conclusion, well, it must be his twin. And one of 00:08:56.899 --> 00:09:02.680 the things that we discover all the way along through John's gospel and in this chapter is how often people 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:08.819 are blind to Jesus' identity and they cannot recognize that if he is the Son of God, he has 00:09:08.819 --> 00:09:16.399 the power to bring this kind of transformation. It's interesting as well to recognize the man's 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:25.519 own reaction to Jesus. He doesn't understand immediately the significance of who Jesus is. 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:32.399 So in verse 11, he simply, when he's asked, how will your eyes open? The man they called Jesus made 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:38.480 some mud and put it on my eyes. For him, the light is going to go on gradually. But at this stage, 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:45.519 we see there's little theological knowledge. At this stage, there are not many people who are reading 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:53.459 the signs correctly. And just to go back to sort of the big news about Oasis, maybe some of you saw 00:09:53.459 --> 00:09:59.840 the teaser sign that made it into the headlines, that cryptic clue a couple of days before that suggested 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:04.740 they were reforming. And it was interesting as the papers began to pick up on it, some fans were 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:12.780 obviously wise to it and started booking up hotels early, trying to plan and anticipate. Read the signs. 00:10:14.379 --> 00:10:24.800 For ourselves, when it comes to Jesus, do we see what Jesus' sign points to? The saving significance of who 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:33.599 he is and have we acted upon it by believing in him? Because as we consider this sign, we need to 00:10:33.599 --> 00:10:41.179 recognize here is the power of God on public display. This isn't something done in a corner. This isn't 00:10:41.179 --> 00:10:48.959 something concocted by the writer of the gospel. Friends and enemies together must testify that Jesus 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:54.480 has changed this man. And so, the question is, well, what better explanation is there? 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:03.820 It really does change everything if God becomes one of us and acts with the power of God in our world. 00:11:06.019 --> 00:11:14.420 Do we recognize, too, the contrast between the beauty of grace versus the ugliness of legalism? 00:11:14.419 --> 00:11:22.339 Any system of religion that is bound up with, you must prove yourself and you must save yourself, 00:11:22.339 --> 00:11:30.219 will always tend to be harsh and judgmental and critical. But the beauty of grace hears Jesus say, 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:36.919 I have come to save. I have come to give light to the blind. I have come to give life to those who are 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:46.240 spiritually dead. Recognize, too, the reality that as Jesus walks into this man's story, here is the 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:54.599 eternal Son of God, the Creator, personally entering into, involved in this one poor man's story. 00:11:55.559 --> 00:12:01.759 What does that tell us about the heart of our God? We have this wonderful coming together of absolute 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:11.919 authority and wonderful, tender, personal love. And also, and we'll come back to this, as Jesus 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:19.559 performs this sign and as He thinks about the night that is coming, we need to recognize He is the Savior 00:12:19.559 --> 00:12:26.799 who will experience His own dark night of the soul. That darkness that He will experience as He becomes 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:35.059 the sin bearer, as He experiences the wrath of God against sin, so that, not just this blind man, 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:44.399 but so that you and I, by faith in Jesus, might live in the light. Have we read those signs and have we 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:51.379 reacted and acted on them? Well, the second thing, and it's really the next part of the narrative, 00:12:51.379 --> 00:12:59.019 is this, have you investigated His identity? Because what we've got in verse 13 all the way to 34 are a 00:12:59.019 --> 00:13:06.820 series of investigations or interrogations. And again, this section really catches that storm of 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:13.120 controversy that we see swirling around Jesus. We encounter groups on either side of the divide. 00:13:13.620 --> 00:13:19.299 We encounter extreme responses. On the one hand, He's a sinner. On the other hand, He's a prophet, 00:13:19.299 --> 00:13:24.939 and indeed He's a Lord. And then we have the blind man who's caught in the eye of the storm. 00:13:26.299 --> 00:13:34.839 And as we listen, we recognize that John is showing to us that this once blind man's sight, 00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:42.279 spiritual sight, is getting clearer. In all the talking, as he reflects, he grows in understanding 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:50.779 until indeed he becomes a worshiper. And again, these kind of reactions, this kind of investigation 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:58.480 is what we would expect if Jesus is taken seriously. Maybe one of the hardest things we find is that 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:04.839 there's a book called Apatheism and how to deal with it. How do we deal with the fact that most people 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:11.180 around us just don't think He's worth bothering it with? That's a reminder that we need to pray, 00:14:11.280 --> 00:14:18.920 to pray that people would want to investigate. So, investigation number one, verses 13 to 18, 00:14:20.259 --> 00:14:26.860 the neighbors of this ex-blind man take him to the Pharisees. Ah, the spiritual leaders. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:31.879 They'll be able to guide us. They'll be able to deliver the right verdict. This is something huge. 00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:39.360 So, let's go to our trusted authority. Sadly, once again, the Pharisees won't be able to guide them, 00:14:39.439 --> 00:14:45.779 right? It's interesting too as well, isn't it? In verse 16, we get the sense of a division that 00:14:45.779 --> 00:14:52.200 emerges within the Pharisees themselves. It's not uniform. So, there are some people who hear, 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:57.440 well, Jesus did this on the Sabbath. So, anybody who works on the Sabbath is a Sabbath breaker. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:02.840 He's a sinner. So, of course, he's not from God. But then there's the other group. Well, 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:09.280 hang on a minute. He can't be a sinner because only God can do this. So, surely these signs are 00:15:09.280 --> 00:15:14.860 a pointer to God's power working. And so, there's a division. And so, they come and they ask the man. 00:15:16.160 --> 00:15:20.780 Verse 17, what have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened. And the man replied, 00:15:20.779 --> 00:15:29.179 he is a prophet. Okay, so he's gone from the man Jesus to he's a prophet. He's God's man, 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:37.100 sent from God, sent with God's Word. So, he recognizes the authority of God in what has happened. 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:46.100 They are, of course, not content to let it rest there. And a second investigation begins from verse 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:53.420 18 to verse 25. They actually didn't believe that he'd been blind. And so, they call in his parents 00:15:53.420 --> 00:16:01.019 to testify in this investigation. And here is where we get a sense of the fear of man 00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:11.620 that operates within Jewish society in Jesus' day, the rule of power, control, and fear by the Pharisees. 00:16:11.620 --> 00:16:17.299 We're told that his parents were afraid of the Jewish leaders because they decided, 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:25.700 if anyone says Jesus is Messiah, Jesus is the promised Savior King, then we'll throw him out. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:29.279 And to be thrown out of the synagogue was really to be cast out of society. 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:38.740 Again, here in John 9, we're getting a window into something of the pressure that people from 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:43.639 other faiths experience when they convert to Christianity. For those of you who are here, 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:49.279 and we listen to our friend from Eritrea, if you live in a society where the majority of people, 00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:54.759 or a majority in a community, practice another religion, there can be an awful lot of pressure, 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:59.700 fear, and control. So, we pray. 00:16:59.700 --> 00:17:10.559 Listen in after they talk to the parents who say, well, we know he's our son, and we know he was 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:18.299 blind. We're not going to answer your question. Ask him. He's of age. Listen to the pride as the 00:17:18.299 --> 00:17:26.980 Pharisees summon the man in once again. Verse 24, give glory to God by telling the truth. We know this 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:32.620 man is a sinner. So, they're absolutely certain. We have made our verdict. And the only way that you 00:17:32.620 --> 00:17:37.940 can give glory to God is if you agree with us. So, you must agree with us that Jesus is a sinner, 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.980 that he's an imposter, that by some kind of dark arts, he's made this transformation. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:51.599 The man doesn't get brought into their theological debate. He replied, whether he's a sinner or not, 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:58.740 I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see. It's a wonderful thing, because what he 00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:05.339 does really is bring a testimony to them. And it's really hard to argue with this. My life was like 00:18:05.339 --> 00:18:10.939 this. I was blind. I was begging. I met Jesus. He spoke to me. He gave me a command, and now I can see. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:12.119 Now my life is different. 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:21.399 Everyone here is a Christian. We have a story that is like that. My life was like this. 00:18:22.419 --> 00:18:27.299 I came to discover Jesus as my Savior, and now I follow Him, and life looks like this. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:36.199 And we're invited to share that, to give Jesus glory. And sometimes our own stories can make an 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:42.640 impact where the truth in the first instance doesn't always. But they're still not satisfied. 00:18:42.840 --> 00:18:49.960 There's a third investigation from verse 26. And again, this ex-blind man is called in for further 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:56.519 interrogation. But just to remind ourselves, the impression that we're getting here is that Jesus' 00:18:56.740 --> 00:19:03.640 identity really matters. These claims are not something that Pharisees say, well, okay, he's saying it, 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:10.640 but you know, it'll all blow over. They recognize this is big. Sadly, they are wrong in his identity, 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:16.980 and they're spiritually blind. And we get that irony that it's the blind man who has true spiritual sight. 00:19:20.280 --> 00:19:27.660 In verse 28, they, you know, having claimed that they are disciples of Moses, they say, 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:31.680 we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:41.299 where he comes from. And the man answered, now that is remarkable. And so he gives them a very logical 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:50.980 set of steps. God doesn't listen to sinners. God listens to the godly. Nobody has ever opened the 00:19:50.980 --> 00:19:56.279 eyes of a person who's blind before. So if this isn't from God, what else could it be? 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:04.099 The blind man sees there is no other conclusion that can be drawn. This is clearly God's power. 00:20:05.639 --> 00:20:11.700 This is clearly someone who God honors and God works through. Jesus, therefore, must be from God. 00:20:14.139 --> 00:20:19.200 At which point we see their ugly response, you were steeped in sin at birth. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:24.920 Consider him a worthless sinner, and they throw him out. 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:30.559 A couple of things before we move to the last section, a couple of things that stand out. One, 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:37.600 this is recognized in this section and in the man's story, the value of combining evidence with 00:20:37.600 --> 00:20:43.420 experience. So I say what the blind man does throughout these investigations, as his understanding 00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:52.600 grows, he speaks with growing clarity about who Jesus is. So he begins to bring truth. He doesn't 00:20:52.600 --> 00:20:57.880 yet know that Jesus is a Lord worthy of worship, but he understands that he clearly is sent from God 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:04.680 and with the power of God. And so he lets the evidence speak for himself, for itself. But at the same time, 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:11.900 he uses his personal experience to try and persuade others. So there's truth and there is testimony. 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:20.080 That's a really powerful combination. The truth of the gospel plus the testimony of people's 00:21:20.080 --> 00:21:27.480 transformed lives is one really important way for us as a church to help people to investigate Jesus' 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:34.920 identity. We need people to see that Jesus and his claims are true, but also we need to see that Jesus 00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:44.539 and his claims are good. That he is somebody who is worth following. So there's that value of combining 00:21:44.539 --> 00:21:50.060 evidence and experience, but also there's the encouragement towards personal investigation. 00:21:50.980 --> 00:21:57.240 Because I think there is that positive aspect that we want people to take Jesus seriously, 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:05.759 to really encounter him and his claims, to not just write him off as an irrelevance. 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:15.599 Remember the way C.S. Lewis put it, the way that Jesus spoke about himself, his claims to be God, 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:21.900 to forgive sin, to be Lord of the Sabbath, to be the one who would die and then rise. Somebody who speaks 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:29.480 like this, he's either a liar and a terrible deceiver or a lunatic, someone with a significant problem, 00:22:29.560 --> 00:22:40.340 or he is the Lord. How can we help our family and our friends and our colleagues to be doing that, 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.220 to be investigating his claims, to be taking them seriously? 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:51.100 Sometimes the best thing, the most straightforward thing to do is to invite them to church. 00:22:51.740 --> 00:22:55.980 Maybe that's some of our own stories, that it was an invitation to church out of the blue 00:22:55.980 --> 00:23:02.720 that led us towards faith. Sometimes we can read the Bible with them, 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:06.740 take some time to talk through people's questions. 00:23:06.740 --> 00:23:13.819 If people like to read or like to listen, we can direct them to good books, to good podcasts. That's 00:23:13.819 --> 00:23:18.279 why we always like to keep well-stocked bookshelves if there's anything helpful for us, but for others 00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:24.960 as well. And we always want to be praying, don't we? To be praying that people who perhaps were 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:32.240 apathetic or blind to the reality of how good and wonderful and life-giving Jesus is, that they would see. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:39.579 So we encourage personal investigation. 00:23:42.759 --> 00:23:48.319 But with that, we come to our last point, and we actually come to our question, and it's the 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:58.079 question of trust. Do you believe? What a day it's been for this man. Began the day in his usual space, 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:07.379 still blind, still begging. Jesus came, now he can see, and then he's caught up in this huge 00:24:07.379 --> 00:24:19.259 media storm all around Jesus and his identity the day before. Unknown, unnoticed, disregarded by 00:24:19.259 --> 00:24:25.199 religious society as somebody unworthy of attention, somebody God would want nothing to do with. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:33.539 And now today he finds himself under attack for his belief in Jesus, but at the same time he's met 00:24:33.539 --> 00:24:40.140 Jesus, and his life has been changed. He's got an amazing story. And then Jesus hears in verse 35 00:24:40.140 --> 00:24:46.019 that he's been thrown out of the synagogue, and he seeks him out, and then he asks that vital question, 00:24:46.019 --> 00:24:53.220 do you believe in the Son of Man? And it's important to recognize, and I think especially 00:24:53.220 --> 00:24:59.900 where we are in history, it's not, do we believe that Jesus exists? 00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:08.259 That's not the question that Jesus is asking. He's asking, do we trust? 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:15.740 This is a faith question. This isn't a historical fact question. That's a really important question as 00:25:15.740 --> 00:25:21.039 well. But we can believe that Jesus was alive, and that he died, and that he rose again, 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:23.980 and still not be saved, and still not be his follower. 00:25:27.500 --> 00:25:34.879 Jesus says, do you believe in the Son of Man? Was Jesus' favorite title of himself, 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:42.879 a title drawn from Daniel's Old Testament vision, Daniel chapter 7, that vision in which a human figure 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:49.420 comes into the throne room to the ancient of days, and he's sent with the authority of God to establish 00:25:49.420 --> 00:25:55.240 an everlasting kingdom with everlasting glory. And Jesus teaches so often through the Gospels, 00:25:55.460 --> 00:26:00.740 that's me, that's who I am, sent from heaven with the glory of God to establish the kingdom of God. 00:26:03.820 --> 00:26:09.560 The man's still a little bit fuzzy in his sight. Who is he? Tell me so that I may believe. 00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:14.099 And Jesus said, you have now seen him. In fact, he's the one speaking with you. 00:26:15.679 --> 00:26:24.740 And the man said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped. This Jewish man, who would have heard 00:26:24.740 --> 00:26:30.259 that we shall not, there's only one God, and you shall never worship an idol or an image. 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:38.400 And he worshiped. Immediately, as he hears that Jesus is the Son of Man, he bows down and worships 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:45.680 him as the Lord. We have believing trust, we have heartfelt worship. Jesus has done the work of God. 00:26:47.259 --> 00:26:51.960 He has been the light of the world for this man, both physically and spiritually, 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:55.660 as he confesses the truth of Jesus' identity. 00:26:58.620 --> 00:27:03.160 Where are you and I at today with our understanding of the identity of Jesus? 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:10.259 And does our understanding of his identity cause us to trust him truly? Because there's a question 00:27:10.259 --> 00:27:18.420 that matters for a number of different reasons. Because of the reality of God. Now, we cannot 00:27:18.420 --> 00:27:29.779 understand Jesus without seeing him as God, as Lord. As the one who has come into this world to seek 00:27:29.779 --> 00:27:39.580 a people, to invite people to fellowship with the living God. He has come to give spiritual sight. 00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:44.300 He has come to be the way into relationship with God. 00:27:44.299 --> 00:27:52.500 We need to understand his divine identity, that he is God himself. And if we want life with God, 00:27:52.639 --> 00:27:59.139 we need to recognize that the only way to have that is by coming to Jesus and pressing in to Jesus. 00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:06.339 So, the question of trust matters because of the reality of God. It also matters 00:28:06.339 --> 00:28:13.279 because of the reality of guilt. Jesus talks to the Pharisees who have 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:21.940 decided on a negative verdict about Jesus. And he says to them, in effect, listen, to reject my claims 00:28:21.940 --> 00:28:31.200 is to be guilty of rebellion against God himself. It's a prideful rejection of the offer of salvation. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:38.819 And if we say no to Jesus, he says, then you're still guilty and in sin. He came to give deliverance, 00:28:38.819 --> 00:28:47.980 but that requires faith. I came across a really interesting, striking reflection, actually, from 00:28:47.980 --> 00:28:53.659 Nietzsche, the atheist philosopher of the 19th century. He was the guy who proudly claimed God 00:28:53.659 --> 00:28:57.439 is dead and we killed him, the Enlightenment thinker. But he had this insight. He said, 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:03.119 as he kind of spoke, thinking about what a post-Christian society would look like, he said, 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:09.239 post-Christian society, we'll still live with a sense of sin and guilt that will always be there. 00:29:10.859 --> 00:29:14.959 But he said, it'll be a society without any hope of redemption because we've got rid of Jesus. 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:20.919 It's interesting. Nietzsche didn't care about that. But the reality is that for so many people living 00:29:20.919 --> 00:29:26.099 with a burden of sin and guilt without the story of Jesus, there's no prospect of redemption. And that's 00:29:26.099 --> 00:29:32.599 tragic. Because Jesus offers and promises both if we trust and worship him as Lord. 00:29:35.959 --> 00:29:44.279 But the question of trust also is important because of the reality of grace. Remember back in verse 4, 00:29:44.899 --> 00:29:55.519 Jesus said that the night is coming. This sign was all about darkness giving way to light. 00:29:56.099 --> 00:30:04.959 And he anticipates that the work of the cross will be darkness giving way to light. We have the 00:30:04.959 --> 00:30:11.599 darkness of the cross where evil people conspire, where there is great injustice as Jesus, the righteous, 00:30:11.819 --> 00:30:19.000 innocent one, is crucified. That's darkness. There is a darkness that falls over the land for three hours 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:28.359 as Jesus. As Jesus falls under the judgment of God. As he experiences the terrible wrath of God against sin. 00:30:28.359 --> 00:30:30.740 As he stands in the place of sinners. 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:41.299 But then light dawns. That first Easter Sunday light dawns because Jesus rises. 00:30:41.299 --> 00:30:51.940 And we know that God is pleased with the finished work of Jesus. The sacrifice is accepted, which means for us. 00:30:53.299 --> 00:31:02.480 If our answer, do you believe in me, is yes. If we respond to God's grace, then we have found forgiveness. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:09.620 And we have entered into relationship with God. And we are in the light. 00:31:12.120 --> 00:31:21.480 So this question matters. Jesus' identity matters. It matters in this life. It matters for eternity. 00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:30.480 Do we believe? Do we believe? Do we trust him? Will we trust him with our lives? 00:31:31.559 --> 00:31:37.480 Let's pray together. Lord, our God, we thank you for... 00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:38.480 Amen.