Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. You're new, and if you're not
new, you know what this is all about. But if
you're new, you may not. These balls, this is
not our decor. We did not decide, hey, let's
decorate the stage with fish tanks. That really
wasn't the purpose of this at all. But these
green balls represent invitations. These orange
balls represent salvations. And we just believe
every single week we come in here that God's
working in and around all week long through invitation.
And people come into Christ and we hear about
it all the time. So I want you to do this. Just
put your hand forward. Just point it out towards
these green balls. We're going to pray over those
invitations and believe for God's hand in this.
Father, we thank you. Lord, you see each person
is represented in this. Tank, Lord, you know
each person. You know their circumstances. You
know what's going on in their lives. And, Lord,
we just come. We bring them before you right
now. God, we place these invitations in front
of you because we're believing that those who
are far from God are going to come near. God,
that they're going to find you. And, Lord, they're
going to know what it is to be born again, renewed,
and refreshed in Jesus. So, Lord, we just ask
that you would go out, Holy Spirit, begin to
continue to move in their lives. And, Lord, as
we get opportunity, we avail ourselves as well,
God, to speak, Lord. to tell the truth, and Lord,
to speak of you. And Lord, we just give you praise,
we give you glory, and we give you honor. In
Jesus' name, everybody say it together. Amen.
Now give him a hand for what he's going to do.
Yeah, come on. He's going to do it. He's going
to do it. You may be seated this morning. It's
good to have you at LifeHouse this morning. Thank
you for joining us online. It's always amazing,
especially on such a cold day, everybody coming
out and shivering all the way to church. But
how many know that sometimes It pays to stay
just a little bit longer. Now, nobody's going
to say amen to that because I'm preaching. They're
like, he's going to preach long today. How many
know it pays just to stay a little bit longer
sometimes? It really does. Sometimes if we linger,
thank you. I got one amen in the back. Sometimes
if we linger, sometimes if we stay, right? Sometimes
there's more to be learned. There's more to be
grabbed a hold of. There's more to get. And sometimes
if you leave the game early, right? And you miss
the greatest play of the whole game. See Hawkins
Patriots today. You might miss the whole game
if you miss that last piece. So this is what
we're going to do this morning. I'm going to
come back around. I preached out of John chapter
9 last week, but we're going to stay just a little
longer in John chapter 9. I've been jumping from
chapter to chapter, but we're going to come back
around. We're going to linger just a little longer
in John 9 because there's more to grab a hold
of there. And John chapter 9 is really centered
around a miracle. A miracle that Jesus performs.
A miracle that he does. And I don't know anybody
that doesn't love a miracle. It's something that's
miraculous. A story of the miraculous. And if
you've ever had that happen in your life, or
if you've known or witnessed that take place,
it never leaves you. I remember years ago as
a youth pastor, many years ago when I was youth
pastoring, I remember going to a conference in
Pensacola, Florida. And they wheeled in a young
man who was in a wheelchair type thing that was...
actually couldn't even sit. He was standing up,
and he had a severe nervous condition. His whole
body would shake and quake, and you could tell
he was almost not even lucid, and they brought
him down front, and they prayed for him, and
I saw this with my own two eyes. That young man
walked out of that place whole, complete, talking.
Yeah, come on. I know it was years ago, but I...
I'm still blown away every time I think about
it. And I saw it with my own two eyes. There
wasn't lightning. There wasn't thunder. God's
presence was in the place, and he walked out
of there completely different. Well, Jesus heals
a man in John chapter 9 blind from birth, and
it's a miracle. This man has never seen the light
of day. He's never been able to differentiate
the color blue from yellow. He's never seen his
family's faces. He's never watched the sky above
roll past him. As a matter of fact, his world
was reduced to what he could hear, what he could
feel, maybe what he could taste or touch. And
that was very difficult in a society that he
lived in because it afforded no opportunities
for those that had this kind of challenge in
their life. It was blind and dark until he met
a man named Jesus. And in the strangest of ways,
Jesus walks up to this man, he spits on the ground,
makes some clay, smears some mud in his eyes,
and sends him to the pool of Siloam to go and
wash. And when he washes, in an instant, his
world changes. In a moment in time, his eyes
open. Color begins to be something that he experiences.
For the first time, he sees his relatives' faces,
and he sees the sky above him roll by. Now, endless
opportunities are in front of him. When everything
was so closed off before, now everything is brand
new. Everything about this man's life changed
in just a few minutes with Jesus. It's amazing.
And while Jesus is lighting up this guy's world,
everything changing for this one man. The world
around him begins to stir. That's what we're
going to look at today. His Jewish neighbors
and friends are trying to figure out what just
happened. They see this guy, but they can't believe
their own eyes. How could such a thing even take
place? They're flabbergasted. How many know that's
a word, flabbergasted? Go ahead and tell your
neighbor, say it's flabbergasted. Flabbergasted,
it's just fun to say. Some are so shocked they
don't even know if it's the same guy. The religious
leaders who hate Jesus are more infuriated than
ever. You got to understand before this time,
before he heals this man, they already wanted
to stone Jesus to death. Now Jesus goes and heals
this man has even greater influence. And even
this guy's parents are rattled about their son's
healing. So rattled that they defer when they're
questioned about the whole matter. The only one
that's clear What's just happening at this moment
in time is Jesus. But for everyone that is surrounding
this scenario, this incredible miracle that takes
place, they're all suffering from various kinds
of blindness themselves. So if you've got your
Bibles, go ahead and turn to John chapter 9.
We're going to pick up at verse 8, verse 8 this
morning. And it says this. It says in John 9,
8, And those who previously had seen that he
was blind said, Is not this he who sat and begged?
Some said, This is he. Others said, He is like
him. He said, I am he. Therefore they said to
him, How are your eyes open? The formerly blind
guy's neighbors are experiencing blindness themselves.
I call this confusion blindness. Say confusion
blindness. It's a thing, all right? They're blinded
by confusion. The very nature of confusion actually
brings some blindness to it. If you say you're
confused about anything, there's something you're
not seeing clearly. There's something that's
not quite fitting, right? You're missing something
in some way. And the formerly blind guy, I'm
going to call him that all morning because that's
what the Word of God calls him, his neighbors
are confused. They couldn't get their head around
the fact that their neighbor could now see. And
they start questioning it. How many have ever
heard this? This has never happened before. That
means it can never happen, right? This has never
happened before. I don't believe it. This guy
looks like him, but, you know, I bet you that's
a twin. I always heard rumors it was probably
a twin somewhere back in the lineage, right?
The one we never heard about. I bet you that's
his twin. How many know everybody has a Doppler
ganger? Do you know what that is? You've got
to look alike somewhere. When I was in high school,
I had a kid in school who looked just like me.
No relation whatsoever. Teachers got us mixed
up all the time. We probably could have had some
fun. We never did. But they're confused. The
Jewish people around, there's got to be some
explanation. They refused to believe what was
right in front of them. What took place? The
miracle was there. There was confusion blindness.
And the blind guy answers their question in verse
11. He says this, and he answered and said, a
man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes
and said to me, go to the pool of Siloam and
wash. So I went and washed and I received sight.
And they said to him, where is he? He said, I
do not know. They brought him who was formerly
blind to the Pharisees. Now it was the Sabbath
when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he
had received his sight. He said to them, he put
clay on my eyes and I washed and I see. Therefore,
some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from
God because he does not keep the Sabbath. Others
said, how can a man who is a sinner do such signs?
And there was a division among them. So they
said again to the blind man, what do you say
about him since he has opened your eyes? And
the blind man said, he is a prophet. There's
a whole other group of individuals who are experiencing
blindness around this miracle. The Pharisees.
They don't see the power of Jesus. They don't
see the miracle. They're completely blind to
the fact that Jesus is the son of God, that he's
the waited on Messiah. The Pharisees are suffering
from what I call selective blindness. They just
select them what they want to see, right? I'll
choose what is true so I can make it fit my circumstance,
my desire, or my bias. That's what selective
blindness is. I choose to see what is true. It's
only what I can make fit my circumstance, my
desire, or my bias. If you have children in your
house, raise your hand right now. Raise your
hand. How many know your children suffer from
selective blindness? Come on, especially if you've
got teenagers. Yeah, some of you are like, amen,
amen, amen, amen. Selective blindness, right?
You could take them to the doctor today, and
they would be diagnosed. I just saved you 50
bucks for the copay. Selective blindness. You
can tell that child, go clean up your room. You
know what they'll do? They'll go in their room.
They'll put one pair of clothes in the hamper,
and they clean up their room. How many know that's
selective blindness? The 5 ,000 other things
that are all over the floor, they didn't even
see it. I cleaned up my room. I did. They'll
swear to it. They'll put their hand on the Bible
and swear in the middle of the kitchen that they
did it, right? They will. They're selectively
blind. I choose to see. This was the Pharisees.
I choose to see what I want to see so it fits
my circumstance, so it fits my bias, so it fits
what I'm doing. They're selectively blind. And
you start to see in this scenario more and more
people that are surrounding us, they're blind.
In this portion of Scripture, even the formerly
blind guy, still suffering from some blindness
himself. When they question him, who healed you?
The Pharisees question him. Well, he says, I
don't know. This guy must be a prophet. He doesn't
even know it's the son of God yet. He doesn't
even know it's the Messiah. He's a Jew, and he
knows this. Anybody that he's seen that had the
power of God up until this time was a prophet.
He knew in the history of Israel, anytime he
saw a miracle take place, anytime it was written
about or spoke about or taught to him, it was
a prophet. And he scrambles. They're asking him,
who healed you? And he's like, I don't know.
Who is he? He's like, he must be a prophet. He's
blind due to some ignorance, honestly, at this
point. It's ignorance blindness. We go on in
verse 18, but the Jews did not believe concerning
him that he had been blind and received his sight
until they called the parents of him who had
received his sight. And they asked him saying,
is this your son who you say was born blind?
How then does he now see his parents are up to
bat now and all the confusion and everybody getting
questioned, they're up to bat. And his parents
answered them and said, we know that this is
our son. And then he was born blind. But by what
means he now sees, we do not know. Or who opened
his eyes, we do not know. He's of age, ask him.
He'll speak for himself. Now, his parents said
these things because they feared the Jews. For
the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed
that he is the Christ, they would be put out
of the synagogue. Therefore, his parents said,
he's of age, ask him. Dad and mom. You know,
get questioned about this whole scenario that's
taken place. And here's what they do. They totally
bail on their son, right? They just throw their
son under the bus. I can see the formerly blind
guy. He's like, well, thanks, Mom and Dad. Way
to take one for the team. They're like, we don't
know. We don't know how he got healed. We don't
know who did it. We don't know anything. And
here's what the problem was. They were afraid
of getting thrown out of the synagogue. They
were afraid of the social repercussions of this
and where they were going to church and where
they were practicing their religious duties.
And they're like, oh, no, just go talk to our
son. Right. They just saw him completely under
the bus. And he answered and said, whether and
blind guy gets back up and he speaks again while
there's question him. And he answered and said,
you know. I'm sorry, let's go back to John chapter
9, 24. So they again called the man who was blind
and said to him, I hope when you get in the picture,
I'm trying to unfold a picture of what's taking
place here, right? Give him, give God glory.
We know that this man is a sinner. They call
the blind guy back in. The Pharisees are still
questioning everybody and everything. And they're
telling him, we know that this Jesus is a sinner.
And I love the blind guy's response to all these
religious leaders. He answered and said, whether
he is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing
I know, that though I was blind, now I see. And
they said to him again, what did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes? And he answered them,
I told you already. And you didn't listen. Why
do you want to hear it again? Do you also want
to become his disciples? I just kind of think
the blind guy here, he's like, you know what?
I'm tired of these clowns questioning me. I know
they're already fired up. I know they're already
mad at Jesus. I think I'm just going to stir
the pot a little bit more. Because he looks him
in the eye and says, well, why? Do you want to
become his disciples? And I can guarantee you,
they lit them up, these Pharisees. It even says
in verse 28, it says, then they reviled him and
they said, you are his disciples, but we are
Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses.
As for this fellow, we do not know where he is
from. And the man answered and said to them,
why, this is a marvelous thing. What you do not
know where he is from yet. He opened my eyes.
Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but
if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his
will, he hears them. Since the world began, it's
been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of
one who was born blind. If this man were not
from God, he could do nothing. Man, he preaches
it. He gives it right back to the Pharisees like,
man, I don't know what your deal is. I don't
know if he's a sinner or not, but let me tell
you something. I know this. He wouldn't have
been able to do any of this unless he knew God.
He says it. And they answered and said to him,
you are completely born in sins. They're fired
up. They're mad. And you're teaching us. And
they cast him out. They throw formerly blind
guy who just experienced a miracle. They throw
him out. And look what Jesus does. Jesus heard
that they cast him out. And when he had found
him, he said to him. Do you believe in the Son
of God? And he answered and said, Who is he,
Lord, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said
to him, You have both seen him, and it is he
who is talking with you. Then he said, Lord,
I believe. And he worshiped him. He worshiped
Jesus. And Jesus said, For judgment I have come
into this world, that those who do not see may
see, and those who see may be blind. And what
a scenario. What a story. What gave a man who
was blind from birth the ability to see it all
in one day? He not only begins to see physically
what's taking place, but his eyes in the second
encounter with Jesus are opened up spiritually.
He sees God. He sees the Messiah. He sees the
Son of God. And all those around him who had
physical sight couldn't see. They were blind
to something. Something had them shaded. And
I submit to you today that it can be my religion
that can cause me to be blind to God, or it can
be my religion that will cause me to see God
clearly. Let me say it again. It can be my religion
that causes me to be blind to God, or it can
be my religion that will cause me to see God
clearly. I can be completely blind. Because of
my religion or I will see God clearly because
of my religion. Turn to somebody right now and
tell them that sounds confusing. Go ahead, tell
them right now. Tell them that sounds confusing.
That sounds like double talk, right? What does
that mean? That sounds confusing. My religion
will either blind me in some way or my religion
will cause me to see clearly. And you might say,
well, how can that be? Well, it's in the definition
of religion. See, religion has two definitions.
And the first definition is this. A religion
is the belief in and the worship of a supernatural
power or powers, especially a God or gods. If
my belief and my worship is fixed on the superhuman
power of Jesus Christ, if my belief and my worship
is fixed on the superhuman one, God the Father,
Jehovah, Jesus, the Son of God, right? And the
Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit. If my belief
and my worship are fixed on the one and only
true God, the creator of the universe, the one
who manages all that I see around me, the one
who is above all gods, right? The King of kings,
the Lord of lords. causes me to see everything
clearly when my eyes and my heart are fixed on
the superhuman one. No longer do I walk in a
state of confusion. The longer I have walked
with God, the less confused I am. The more I
engage with him, the more I encounter him, the
more I get into his presence, the less confused
I get. The more the world becomes clear to me
around me. Sometimes there's so much happening
in the world around us, and we're trying to make
sense of it all. And I'm here to tell you, if
you get focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, if
you encounter him, if you get in his presence,
things begin to become clear. You start to understand
what's taking place around you. It becomes open.
It becomes obviously. You know, obvious. The
former blind man first received his physical
sight when Jesus first approaches him. But in
the second approach, when Jesus comes up to him
again, he receives spiritual sight. And he begins
to see things for exactly what they are. In one
day, one day, he can see it all. If our religion,
if our belief and worship is in the superhuman,
in Jesus, If we continue to have encounters with
him, pursue him, our vision will become clearer
and clearer and clearer. The shade will go up
on what's taking place around you. And let me
talk about a second definition of religion. The
definition of religion that will blind you to
God. And this was the kind of religion that the
Pharisees had and the Jewish neighbors that were
around him and even his parents, right? The ones
who were confused, they had selective and convenience
and ignorance blindness. All those who surrounded
this man in this story. And it's this, it's the
second definition. And religion, the second definition
of religion is this, a particular system of faith
and worship. Do you know what's missing in that
definition? Faith and worship are there. That's
what's in the first definition, by the way, right?
Faith and worship. But instead of a supernatural
or superhuman one, it's a system, right? The
superhuman one is taken out of the equation.
It's faith and worship within a system of some
kind. Whether you make that up or whether it's
something that's set up for you, it's a person
who's worshiping the system of faith instead
of actually leaning them into faith with Jesus,
the superhuman one. And this happens all the
time. It was this way with the Pharisees in Scripture.
The Jews of that time and even some of his parents,
they were all in love with the system and not
so much with the one that the system was supposed
to point to. They weren't in love with the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They were in
love with the system. The Pharisees loved the
system of worship of that day. They were experts
in the law of God. Some of them probably loved
the smell of the scrolls, right? They didn't
have books back then. They certainly didn't have
iPads. right? They would unfurl the scrolls and
read in public. They probably breathed in deep
and loved the sounds of the scrolls unrolling.
They loved that they got to wear a different
outfit than everybody else, right? They had the
Pharisee garb on and the costume. They loved
the respect and the attention it brought. They
loved the fellowship with the fellow Pharisees,
right? It was like a club. They were all in it.
They were all educated. They were all doing the
same thing. They loved the fellowship with their
brother. They loved the traditions of the group.
They loved all the extra laws that they came
up with and added to the law of God. They loved
the community. They loved it all. They were totally
in love with the system of faith and worship,
and they totally missed God in the middle of
it. This guy's parents, same thing, just a little
different bet, right? That when there was a threat
of getting thrown out of the synagogue because
of believing in Jesus, they were like, peace
out, man. Go talk to our son. We're not talking
with anybody about it. We don't know nothing,
right? I don't know anything. They're just hiding
somewhere when all the tension starts, when the
things begin. You say, well, how does that work
with us? We can love church. We can love the
culture. We can love our life groups. We can
love the people. We can love the practices of
worship. We can love the songs that we sing.
We can love the community that it brings. You
can love the smell of the coffee over at the
cafe. You can love the greeters at the connection
station. You can love pulling into the parking
lot and somebody being there just to smile at
you and send you into the door. You can show
up every week of the year and completely miss
the superhuman one. Completely miss God. Never
get into contact with him. Never encounter the
holy one. You love the system of faith and worship.
You love the prestige. You love where you sit.
How many know you got a place where you sit?
Come on, raise your hand. I know, I see you.
I look for you every week, right? If you move,
it messes me all up. That's okay. As the worship
team comes. And there's even a flip side to religion
keeping us blind on this. We can also talk about
those who hate religion. They hate the worship.
They hate the system. They hate people of faith.
And they even carry a subtle hate for the superhuman
one that's associated with it, right? They hate
religion. Maybe this person's been burned once
in the system of faith and worship. And I talk
to people all the time. I can't tell you how
many conversations I've had with people who got
burned in the system of faith and worship somewhere
at a church. Somewhere in a community, it happens
all the time. Been there myself, by the way,
all right? And they've been wronged big time.
And maybe they've been burned once. Maybe they've
been burned twice. Maybe they've been burned
seven times, maybe ten times. And they're so
frustrated. They're so hurt. They've been rejected.
They've been hurt. They've been betrayed by somebody
in the system of faith and worship, right? And
they're so focused on the system of faith and
worship. that they can't see God any longer.
Sometimes what happens when you get in the middle
of something like this, and I've been there,
right? You superimpose these people on God. You
really do. You superimpose this person who's
far from God and really isn't following God,
who's acting out in all these kind of ways, even
though they're in the system, right? We superimpose
them onto God. Somehow God ends up guilty by
association. Because somebody in the system,
right, they're supposed to be representing God
in some kind of way. But it's actually some lousy
people who are just far from God, right? Sinners
who have not fully surrendered to God. People
who have not given their hearts over. This is
real. This is real. And if you've ever been hurt,
it's hard to get past the system. It really is.
It's hard to get past the association with it
all. And if that's you, I want to be the first
one to say I'm sorry that happened to you. I'm
sorry that you suffered that frustration. But
know this, people and systems fail. They really
do. People and systems fail in some kind of way.
They're flawed because, you know, they're flawed.
They're sinners saved by grace just like all
of us are. And sometimes they act out in sinful
manners. But don't miss God. Don't miss the supernatural
one. He's the one who does the miracles. He's
the one who does the healing. There's nobody
in this house that they carry a miracle with
them for you. There's nobody in this house. You're
not going to find him, right? It's only with
him. And Jesus left us the greatest example of
how to overcome this because for Jesus, the system
failed him. If you look at the crucifixion of
Christ and the worship team begins to play softly,
you'll begin to see that the system failed him,
right? He had a dozen disciples who were following
him. And when it was time for Jesus to come to
the hour, his greatest hour of pain, all his
disciples scattered and left him. They scattered.
They left. They got scared, right? Their sinful
nature began to come up. Even Peter, who beat
his chest and said, I'll be with you, Jesus,
no matter what, denies Christ three times before
the rooster crows. Three times he denies him.
The religious system of that day, who should
have recognized Jesus as the Messiah and the
Savior of all time, that system failed. Not only
did it fail, but they were the very people who
were going to crucify Christ. They're the very
ones who set up Jesus to take a fall. And then
instead of just punishing him, they want him
crucified. But listen to what Jesus says in Luke
23 and 32. He says there were also two others,
criminals, right? Jesus was hung between two
criminals on a cross, led with him to be put
to death. And when they had come to the place
called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the criminals, one on the right hand and the
other on the left. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. They're
driving nails into Jesus' hand and his feet.
This is after being scourged with a Roman whip.
which was designed and built to rip the flesh
from your body, to expose the bones. It would
tear literally away. He has been bloodied. He
has been nailed, hung in a tree. In crucifixion,
most people die from asphyxiation because the
weight of your body pulls down and begins to
close off your lungs, besides all the torment
and pain from the torture. And he ekes out in
all that, Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do. Do you know why Jesus could
do that? If you read in his word, his eyes were
always fixed on the superhuman one, his father.
He was always telling his disciples, I got to
go get away with the father. I got to go encounter
the father. I got to go. I'm doing my father's
business. I'm not worried about what's happening
around me. I don't care who's. falling apart
right who's coming apart at the seams and I don't
care about the system I don't care about any
of those things he just said I got to get to
the father and it's in the encounter it's in
the encounter so if you're going to stay eyes
wide open heart wide open ready to move forward
in life seeing everything that goes on around
you and seeing it for what it is you got to encounter
the master You got to encounter the superhuman
one. You're not going to find it in a system.
And there's nothing wrong with systems. They're
there for a reason. But you're not going to find
it there. You're not going to find it in some
form or faith of worship. You got to get to the
superhuman one. You got to get to worship him
and him alone. Amen? I'm going to ask if you'd
stand this morning. And I venture to guess. If
you bow your heads, close your eyes. I would
venture to guess in this house, there are some
here who have been burned by the system. There
have been some here, you could probably tell
a story, two, three, or four, how you were hurt
in some way by those who shouldn't be hurting
others, by those who should know better, right?
Because they're following Jesus. Don't be blind.
Get your eyes off the people and get them on
the Savior. Get your eyes off the circumstance.
Get your eye off the system. Get your eye because
he's where the healing is. He's where the joy
is. He's where the peace is. He's where the vision
is. He's the one who clears all things up in
our heart and our mind and our soul. And all
it takes is an encounter with him. The word of
God says, if you seek me, you will find me. Jesus
is just waiting for us to seek him. He will come
and encounter. You will encounter him, but you've
got to seek him. You want to stand flat -footed
and be prideful and just stand there in your
stubbornness? Go ahead. You're going to be standing
there a long time. You've got to humble your
heart, and you've got to go after God. You've
got to tell him, I don't have all the answers.
I don't even understand all the things I'm feeling,
but I'm just coming after you, Lord. I'm just
chasing after you. I want you. I need you in
my life. I need to know your presence. Some of
you need this this morning. Some of you need
his presence in your life. Some of you need an
encounter with him. And it will change how you
see. Just like that blind man. A couple minutes
in his presence changed everything. Come on.
We're going to sing. Thank you for tuning in
to this message from Lifehouse Church. powerfully
by this message. If you have been personally
affected by our ministry and you would like to
partner with us as we love God, love people every
day, visit our website at