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Proverbs 21:1-10
1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.
3 To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the LORD than
sacrifice.
4 A haughty look, a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked are sin.
5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.
6 Getting treasures by a lying tongue Is the fleeting fantasy of those who
seek death.
7 The violence of the wicked will destroy them,
Because they refuse to do justice.
8 The way of a guilty man is perverse; But as for the pure, his work is right.
9 Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop,
Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.
10 The soul of the wicked desires evil; His
neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.
Father God, comfort and console those that have cancer or a
disease. Heal them for your glory to save the lost, just as you did with this
blind man. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Gospel of John 9:26-41 NKJV
This week we see the blind man is put on the witness stand
like his parents were last week. The difference being the man stands up for
Jesus whereas his parents did not. He even preaches to the Pharisees and this
chapter ends with the man accepting Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.
26 Then they
said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your
eyes?"
Why
do you suppose these leaders kept asking this man how he received his sight?
Does this sound like lawyer’s tactics in a court room? To me it does. I believe
they were hoping to catch him in a contradiction in order to declare his
experience a falsehood; or they were trying to intimidate him; or throw him off
his guard, so that he might be detected in denying what he had before affirmed.
But God gave this poor man grace and strength to make a bold confession of the
truth, and sufficient common sense to completely bewilder his proud and
arrogant examiners.
27 He
answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you
want to hear it again? Do you
also want to become His disciples?"
The
answer and question this man stated, one could come to two conclusions on why
the leaders are asking again of how the man received his sight. First was to
spur the leaders. Second maybe this man thought possibly the leaders wanted to
become followers of Jesus and if this was the case he would be more than happy
to repeat his miracle, but the text tells us it wasn’t because they wanted to
be followers of Jesus. In fact this man dug his spurs into the leaders that had
evil in their heart.
28 Then they
reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.
Then they reviled him; Means to
vilify; to rail at, and to abuse by words.
And said, "You are His disciple,
but we are Moses' disciples; What a lie is stated here by the Jewish
leaders. They were no more Moses followers than the rest of the world. They had
no regard for the law and the examples of life that Moses led. Moses lived by
faith in God; they were living by faith in their laws. They were no better than
the Gentiles, in fact they were worse off than the Gentiles because the Gentile
people listened to Jesus and the Apostles and many of them became believers.
29 We know
that God spoke to Moses; as for
this fellow, we do not know
where He is from."
We
know that God spoke to Moses; This
is a true statement by the leaders, but sad to say their heart was hard and
cold toward God. Their interpretation of being right with God was to obey their
infallible laws and condemn Jesus. So it is today many follow mans laws and
what their hard hearts prompt them to do, instead of what God’s Word tells them
to do.
As for this fellow, we do not know where He is
from; Their
belief was that Jesus was not from God. They didn’t know if Jesus was mad,
whether He was instigated by the devil, or whether He spoke of Himself.
We
all know from time to time a person will promote himself as being the Messiah,
but soon this self proclaiming person fades away. We will all know when Jesus
returns and there will be no guessing on whether He is true and faithful.
30 The man
answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do
not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!
The
next few verses we find this formerly blind man preaching to these leaders.
Where did he get his boldness and wisdom to say the things he said to these
leaders? Do you remember this verse; John
9:3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the
works of God should be revealed in him. This was all a
plan of God to glorify God’s greatness, so the Holy Spirit was with this man
and gave him the boldness and words to say.
31 Now we
know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and
does His will, He hears him.
Now we know that God does not hear
sinners; This is
referring to impostors, false prophets, and pretenders to divine revelation.
The meaning is that God will not give miraculous aid to impostors and false prophets.
Therefore this verse has no reference to the prayers which sinners make for
salvation. The only prayers which God will not hear are those which are offered
in mockery, or when the man loves his sins and is unwilling to give them up.
Such prayers God will not hear; Psalm
66:18 “If I regard
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me;” Isaiah
1:14-15; Job 27:9; Jeremiah 11:11; Ezekiel
8:18; Micah 3:4; Zechariah 7:13.
But if anyone is a worshiper of God and
does His will, He hears him; When
a miracle was performed it was customary to invoke the aid of God. Jesus often
did this himself, and it was only by the power of God the prophets and apostles
could perform miracles. The Scripture abounds with promises that God will hear
their prayer. Psalm 34:15; Matthew 7:7-8
32 Since the
world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was
born blind.
Neither
Moses nor any of the prophets had ever done this. No instance of this kind is
recorded in the Old Testament of a person being born blind was healed
miraculously or surgically. This was a miracle which had never been performed,
the man argued justly that He who had done it must be from God. As Jesus did it
not by surgical operations, but by clay, it showed that he had power of working
miracles by any means.
33 If this
Man were not from God, He could do nothing."
The
fact that Jesus could perform miracles like this was full proof that He was
commissioned by God, proof that never has been and never can be denied. One
magnificent miracle proves that He was from God. With all the miracles Jesus
performed how could anyone doubt He wasn’t from God?
34 They
answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you
teaching us?" And they cast him out.
Needless
to say what this man stated did indeed infuriate these leaders. It is amazing that a man that could
never read the Scriptures; who had had no education; was not only blind, but a
beggar from his youth; should be able to reason so strong and have the
boldness, presence of mind, and freedom of speech before the whole Sanhedrin.
Certainly it was God that gave him a mouth and wisdom which these educated
leaders could not tolerate, and therefore reviled and excommunicated him. This man's new faith was severely tested
by some of the leaders.
Persecution may come when
you follow Jesus. You may lose friends; you may even lose your life. But no one
can ever take away the eternal life that Jesus gives you and that is a glorious
thing.
35 Jesus
heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"
Jesus
heard that they had cast him out; Jesus heard via the grapevine that this
man had been expelled from the Synagogue. He went in search of him to comfort
him. In a previous lesson we learned that when someone was excommunicated from
the Synagogue they were shunned by all the brethren even their family. Jesus
had compassion for this man and wanted him to know what he did was for the
Kingdom of God and that he had a new family that would love and care for him
for eternity. God doesn’t abandon His children in times of desolation and
despair, He seeks them out and comforts and consoles them.
And
when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you
believe in the Son of God?"; Jesus asked this man if he believed in
the Son of God, why? This man believed that Jesus had power to heal him, and therefore
he believed He must be a prophet because of him receiving his sight. He saw
light but now he was looking at the true light of eternal salvation. This man
will now believe with his heart and not with the miracle of his sight.
36 He
answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"
This
verse shows the man was willing to believe, and had a strong desire to see and
hear the Son of God. By the questions from this man it is evident that he
didn’t know who the Son of God was and that it was He that restored his sight. He
believed according to the sight he had received, and he now showed that he was
prepared to believe all that Jesus said. This is the nature of true faith. It
believes all that God has made known, and it is premiered to receive all that
he will teach.
37 And Jesus
said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He
who is talking with you."
And
Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him; What this
phrase is stating is this man’s spirit saw Him through the miracle of sight and
now he is physically seeing Jesus.
And it is He who is talking with you."; Here Jesus
reveals who He is in a very similar manner that Jesus revealed who He was to
the Samaritan woman at the well.
This would be the greatest
revelation that this man would ever be revealed to. It may not have been at the
time, but as this man grows in faith he will realize in body and soul what
Jesus did for him in redeeming him. Every Born Again Saint experiences this
phenomenon as they grow in God’s Grace. There isn’t a day that goes by that I
thank Jesus for dying on the Cross in my place. What an AWESOME GOD we have!
38 Then he
said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.
Then
he said, "Lord, I believe!"; What did he believe? He believed that Jesus
was and is the “Son of God”; the Saviour of mankind; the Redeemer of the world;
the Messiah of Israel, both for the great Miracle of Healing that he received
and the Great Salvation he now received, which was the greatest of all. He immediately
found faith in his heart and as soon as he did perceive it, he made an open and
hearty profession of it.
And
he worshiped Him; God
and only God,
is worthy of worship and adoration. God is the creator of all creation, and is
the source for all worship. As soon as this man realized who he was talking to
and who gave him his sight, he worshipped Him.
39 And Jesus
said, "For judgment I have come into this world,
that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made
blind."
And
Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world; The word “judgment,” here has been misunderstood
by some in the sense of condemnation of the world, but this meaning does not
agree with other scripture where Jesus says that he came not to condemn the
world, John 3:17; John 12:47;
John 5:45. This would be a contradiction in the Word of God which we
know there is none. Judgment here is
to express an opinion in a judicial manner, and also to express any sentiment
about any person or thing, John 7:24; John 5:30; Luke 8:43.
The meaning here can be defined;
I came to proclaim the condition of men; to show them their moral state and
spiritual life. My coming will have the effect that some will repent and be saved,
and some more deeply condemned.
That those who do not see may see; What this
phrase is saying is those that don’t know who Jesus is, who God is, what
salvation is, that their spiritual eyes might be opened.
And that those who see may be made blind; This would be better understood if
stated this way; to give sight to the spiritually blind to show those who think
they see, that they are actually blind and refuse to accept the Gospel. Their
thinking is they have no need of a Saviour.
40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with
Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"
These
Pharisees perceived what Jesus said and that it was directed toward them. They
were offended that they were put with the lower class of unlearned common people
after all they were the upper class of people leading their brethren. Prestige
means nothing to Jesus; prestige belongs to the world not God.
41 Jesus
said to them, "If you were blind, you would have
no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.
If this verse were rephrased
it would state this, “If you weren’t blind, you wouldn't be feeling guilty, but
you have guilt because you claim you can see.” The Pharisees were blind and
could not or would not believe what they saw or heard, they refused and clung
to their religious laws. They were more than blind, they were dumb and
deaf also, spiritually speaking.
Where do you fit in spiritually? Are you with the group of
Pharisees or followers of Jesus?
Colossians
1:16
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans
3:23 for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans
6:23
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most
assuredly, I say to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners
Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord
Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my
sins to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans
3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians
2:8-10; 1 John 5:11-14; 1:6-10)
(Sin: Rom. 1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph.
5:3-7)
Great post
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