Well, good morning, church and a big ole happy new year to all of you. Congratulations. Some of you are two for two on the year on your church attendance. 100% this year. Thank you for being here today. Let me say this before we jump in. If you jumped in and helped serve over the course of the Christmas holidays, the New Year's holidays, man, thank you to you guys. We put on a lot of services between Christmas Eve and then last week. We had a ton of services, a ton of visitors. And you guys hosted well. About our Christmas Eve services. Let me just bring you into a little bit of what goes on around here. I know a lot of you were here. Maybe most of you were here and actually check this out. This year over last year, we had almost 50% more people at our Christmas Eve services this year, and that was incredible. Now, I kind of feel the tension. Well Matt, it's not all about numbers. Well, every name, there's a soul, all right? And every person that came out to hear the gospel got to be loved on a little bit. And that's because you guys serving made that happen as well as last week. Thank you to Brian Foster for bringing the word on what it looks like not to bring our baggage from last year into this year. I loved all the baggage and the illustration from the week. 

Well, with the new year comes a new series this year, of course. And this year's series we're going to start off with a just a series called The Transformed Life. Where what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at the face-to-face encounters with people that they had with Jesus in the New Testament. And we're going to see how Jesus took their life from where it is, to moving it in a direction that Jesus transformed them. And here's the hope in all of these stories. The hope is not that just we kind of have a good time together and we see a good story. We want to see our lives and our walk with the Lord through the lens of these people. And we want to see how God can move in us and what God wants to do in our lives. Now, look, when I look at these stories, I got to tell you that some of these encounters, they are the ones that if you grew up in Sunday school, you slapped them babies up on the flannel board. Right. You saw a lot of these you know, a lot of these accounts. But some of the accounts we're going to look at in this series are ones that we really don't have a lot of knowledge of. We don't really look at a lot or we've studied a lot. And I want to encourage you just to kind of dove into all of them the same. In December, I put out a little social media poll and asked you guys, what are some of your favorite Life-Changing events that you've read in the Bible that have changed your life? And you guys gave me a ton of feedback on a lot of those. Here's the good news and bad news of that. All right. You ready for it? The good news is we're going to look at some of those. The bad news is we can't get to all of them. All right. We'd be doing it all the way through next year. There's good news, though. We're going to see some of them. And here's what I want to tell you when I get to yours. All right. The one that you brought up, I'm going to ask you to stand up, speak a few words on behalf of it. I'm just kidding. I'm not going to do that. That would be bad, right? But what I do want to do is this. When it's yours, I'm just going to say, whose is it? And ask who's it? I'm not going to do that either. All right. Because that would be mean, right? But what I want to say is this man, you got to be here. You don't know when yours is going to come up. You got to be at church. You got to be ready for yours in the story. And in saying that, let me just encourage you to make church a priority this year. Make it a priority in your life. I know that online is great. Online is fabulous. Listen, let me just give a little self-compassion time here for a second. 

Last week, I wasn't speaking. Right. Brian was speaking. It was New Year's Day. I was in my comfy sweatpants on Sunday morning, and it was almost time for church. And I was like hmmm, that online is looking good right now, but I'm like, No, I'm not going to be a center. I'm going to church right now. And I went to church. All right. I came to church. I'm just kidding. It's good. Sorry online people, we love you. I promise. We love you. All right. But let me talk to these guys. But listen, we want you here. We want you to be part of it's hard to be a part of a family that you never around. And I'm telling you, the experience of being in the room is incredible. And also, I'm just going to encourage you to invite people this year. Invite people this year. Do you know I mean; we have a chance to impact this community for the Lord? The latest stat says this, 82% of people will say yes if you invite them to come to church with you. Now, I'm not saying you throw a little, little thing on their front porch and hit the ring doorbell and run. Right. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying if you say, hey, come sit with us, come hang with us, we'll go to lunch. 82% of the people will do that and come with you this year. So anyway, let's jump into Scripture this morning. We're going to be in John Chapter nine. John, chapter nine. Today is our first encounter we're going to see with Jesus and we're going to watch Jesus’s encounter with this born blind beggar. That's hard to say. Born blind beggar. And here's what we're considering today. We're going to consider what it looks like for a desperate person to come face to face with Jesus. A desperate person to come face to face. And here's why I wanted to start here in this new year. I wanted to start here because if we're 100% honest with the Lord this morning, a lot of us came in to 2023 in an incredibly desperate situation. We came into it with some incredibly desperate living in our hearts. So many of us are finding ourselves in a desperate place, whether it's for God to give us some kind of physical healing or emotional healing, or whether it's God to just touch some relationship in our lives, whether it be a spouse or a family member or a friend or some of us are at a desperate point where we need God to just ease maybe some kind of pain or some kind of past or God to provide some kind of need that we've been praying for a long time. 

Some of us are in a desperate spot where we're asking God just answers to questions that we just don't feel like we have ever gotten in front of them. And some of us just kind of come into this general desperate living of God. I just don't even know what it is, but my soul just doesn't feel right. Here's why I want to encourage you with today. Today's text is an incredible encouragement to many of us who need to come to Jesus in a desperate state and watch what only Jesus can do. Because a lot of us, we try to get it and we try to seek it in other places. But Jesus continually tells us, Hey, I am the one that gives life, that gives hope, that gives promise. Bring it to me. John Chapter nine is a long chapter. In fact, I think it's 41 verses in John Chapter nine. So, this morning, we're not going to read them all. All right. But I am going to take the bookends of the chapter. We're going to pull a couple from the middle and we're going to see Jesus's encounter with this guy that he not only heals this guy's eyes. But catch this. More importantly, he heals his soul. All right. John, chapter nine, verse one. So, where we're going to start, read along. I'm going to put it on the screen. Here we go. As he. That's Jesus, right? As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? 

Now, let me stop there and just mention a couple of contextual ideas here. John's gospel is all about pointing out that Jesus is God, that the Messiah, Emmanuel, that He is God. In almost every page you flip in John's gospel, you will see Christ as God. Christ is God. Christ is God. In this account is the same message. In fact, Jesus with His miracle right here proves that He is God. But because of this truth and because of Jesus being God, Jesus is not getting along very well with the religious authorities of the day, with the Pharisees of the day. They're not believing He is God. They're not believing that He is the Son of God. They are still believing in their system of beliefs that have been there forever. So, the account that we're looking at right here follows up right on the tails of Jesus being kind of almost stoned as he moves through the crowd coming out of the temple complex, he sneaks out, kind of gets away from these Pharisees. Well, Jesus at this point is walking with his disciples and his disciples. Ask him this concerning question about this blind beggar that is sitting right outside the temple complex. And I want you to see some things about what happened in this first verse, because I think there's some things, especially for the new year, that I need to point out. The first thing is that Jesus in this story is the one that has already noticed who the beggar is. Now, this may seem insignificant, and I'm just going to confess, I've read the story. I don't know how many times in my life, but I've never thought about this truth. And here's the truth I want you to write down verse the first principle. Jesus knows me. Jesus knows me. You might even write the word. Jesus knows you in that in the blank. And here's what that means. I feel like sometimes we forget the fact that Jesus knows you, that he knows you. He doesn't just kind of know you. He really knows you. Nobody has to introduce Jesus to this blind man and catch this. Nobody has to introduce Jesus to you because he knows you. He knows your name. He knows your background. He knows your faults. He knows your successes. And catch this and all of that. He still loves you and he still wants a relationship with you, and he still wants to save you. Nobody had to fill Jesus in on who this guy is. So, listen, just when you think you don't have anybody else catch this church. You got Jesus. You got Jesus. He knows your name. Never let Satan take that from you. Never let Satan isolate you so much that you feel like nobody knows you. Because the one that matters most knows you. 

And we see it in the story right here. But also, it's not a bad idea when you look at the story to place yourself in a spot that Jesus might come along. Right. That's what the guy did, didn't he? You've done that today. In fact, by just being here, you've placed yourself in a position to hear from Jesus, to let Jesus speak into your soul today. It's not a bad idea. This blind beggar, he sat right by the road, right? Or somebody probably led him there to sit him right by the road. Why? Because he was just hoping that some religious person would walk by throwing a little coin. Right. And bless him a little bit. But unbeknownst to him, this day was the day that Jesus stopped moving. And can I tell you something? When Jesus sees you in despair and when Jesus sees you hurting, and when Jesus sees you down and He sees you blind and he sees you begging, he does the same for us as he did for this blind man. He stops and he stops every single time. But I want you to notice something. Jesus is the one who stopped. But the disciples didn't want to. Do you see this in the story? I love the disciples to death. But notice that the disciples had no intention of being compassionate to this guy. They had no intention. Remember, compassion is doing what is seeing the need and meeting and eat right. That is what compassion is. And that is what Jesus always does. That's what Jesus is offering you this morning is his compassion. But his disciples bless them right. But all they were wondering is, I got a question I want you to answer Jesus, as we keep walking by this poor guy on the side of the road. Here's a question that got on me this week, and I put it in your notes just so you can kind of think through it this week. Do I make the hurting a point of discussion or do I make the hurting an object of my compassion? You know, I think it's Christians were really good at talking about the problems in the world. But the last I checked, we follow a faith that says when we see a need, we meet a need. In the name of Jesus. That's what we're seeing Jesus do right here, right now. I don't want to get on the disciples. Too bad. Because they ask. They ask an incredible clarifying question. They looked at this guy and they said, Now Jesus, who sinned. Right? And so that's the question of the day. Whose sin did this guy do something to be born blind? 

In other words, did this guy sin in the womb somehow? But they kind of believe that's another day. It's a weird belief or did his parents sin and so that he was born blind. But watch what Jesus says in verse three. Jesus answers their question. He says this neither this man nor his parents sinned. Jesus said, But this happened so that the works of God may be displayed in Him. So, Jesus says to the disciples, and he says to us, the cause of suffering in this guy, it's unclear cause now Jesus knew it, but he's proving a point here. He knows everything. The cause of suffering is unclear. But here's what Jesus says. And He always says this. But the purpose is not the purpose is not, in fact, write this principle down. God's eternal purpose is in our suffering are always more important than our understanding of the cause of our suffering. Now I know that's deep, so I probably need to read that one again. I wrote it and I needed to read it again, right? Here, let me let me just kind of flesh that out. God's eternal purpose is in our suffering. In other words, there is always a purpose in our suffering. Always is always more important than our understanding of the cause of our suffering. Now, some of you can relate to this because you've been suffering for a long time, right? You've had a lot of incredible suffering moments. But I want to say this the cause of suffering is important sometimes to figure out, because sometimes you're suffering just because you've been dumb. Amen? We've been there. I've been there. I know I've been there. Right? Sometimes you're suffering because of a bad decision that you've made. And it's important for you to look back at your life and go, Oh, yeah, that's what I did, and I need to set my life on another path. But sometimes when we look at our suffering, we cannot identify the cause of our suffering. And what the text is telling us here is sometimes we can't get so fixated on the cause of our suffering that we miss the fact that even in our suffering that Jesus is sufficient, that Jesus is worth it, that Jesus is above all of it. Because here's what we do. We get trapped in this moment of why did this happen. Who's responsible for this? What made this happen? Here's what we never do. We never lift our eyes to Jesus and say, Jesus, what do you need to do in me? How do you need to move in my life? And what are you doing in the midst of it? But I get it because many of us are like that. 

I'm trying to do that and I'm trying to submit to Jesus in my suffering, but I'm just not seeing what it's happening, where it is. Can I just let you into a little secret? You may not know until the other side of eternity what the suffering in your life is doing. You might not, but I can promise you this. Jesus is with you in it. He's with you. In fact, write this principle down. Jesus always steps right in the middle of the suffering with us. He always steps in. That's why his name is Emmanuel, because he's with us. Jesus doesn't just step into your life in the good times. He steps into your life, even in the times of the bottom of where your life is. And God is not this detached God, this just off on His throne somewhere that doesn't want anything to do with you. He is a personal God that says, I've got you. And even in the midst of your suffering, I know where you're at. Why? Because he suffered. He suffered. So sometimes God displays his glory and walking in our suffering with us. Sometimes He displays His glory and delivering us from the suffering. But either way. Catch this, Second Corinthians 4:17. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all the outweighs the church. Listen to me. I know some of you are in the depths of despair right now, and you don't know why. And you don't see the result, and you don't see what it is doing in your life. But I can just tell you this Jesus is in the middle of it. He's going to deliver you from it, and you will have eternity with him. And you will never look back on this time and even miss it because he is worth it. He's worth it. He's worth it. Keep going in the story, though, because Jesus doesn't leave this guy where he is Amen. Watch this, verse four. As long as it is day, Jesus is speaking now, as long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work While I'm in the world I am the light of the world. Jesus is telling them hey, I'm not always going to be here, but I've got work to do and I'm not about to do it in this guy. Here goes verse six. After saying this the best middle school verses ever. Here goes right. Y'all ready for this? After saying this, he spit on the ground. He made some mud with his saliva. He put it in the man's eye on the man's eyes. Go, he told him, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. So, the man went, he washed, and he came home seeing. So, Jesus, let's get back into the story. All right. 

Jesus is walking away from these religious leaders, and he not only just stops and sees this blind beggar on the road, he stops and he performs a miracle in his life, and he frees this man from the suffering. And notice this is a miracle. Okay? This is not just some medical Band-Aid. He didn't just kind of give him an ice pack for his head to reduce the swelling so he could see so his migraine would go away. This guy, it is very clear that this guy from birth could not see. It was not an emotional blindness. It wasn't any of that. It is a miracle from the Lord. Jesus healed his eyes. Probably in the grossest way I can think of, right? Probably. I mean, Jesus spits on the ground. Now, let me. Yeah, I'm saying, how much spit does it take to make a mud pie that is good enough to cover a man's eyes? I don't know. But anyway, that's what I was thinking this week. He puts it on his eyes, and he sends him off to go wash in the pool. To which I might add, I would always obey that order. Right? If you put your spit on my eyes, I'm going to watch it off. Parents, can we just agree that we're never going to. Look, it is gross. Are you one of those parents that kind of licks that thumb and gets it off your kid? Can we never do that again, parents, please? I got trauma in my life from that. All right, don't. Don't do that. But, Jesus, he does it, and. And he heals this guy. Now, look, I don't I don't know why. I don't know why Jesus did it this way. I know that's the question. I really look, this week, I'm trusting because I go down these rabbit holes. I don't know why he did it this way. Most of the time, Jesus just kind of speaks miracles, right? I mean, he rose Lazarus from the dead with his words, for goodness’ sake. He rose Jairus' daughter and he wasn't even there. I mean, from a distance, he's like, yeah, she's going to get up. And she got up, right? But in this case, Jesus chooses to spit on the ground and heal this guy's eyes. Why? Well, I really can't say emphatically, but I've got a few ideas I want to share with you. All right. Number one, think about it like this. Do you remember in creation what Jesus did in creation to create us? What did he do? He took the dust of the earth and he put the power from his life together. And he gave us life. Man, what a symbol in this miracle, right? I mean, secondly, when I'm looking at it, it's a way that is visible for all people to see that Jesus is doing something so outlandish it couldn't be looked at as a he just knew the medical treatment to cure this guy's eyes. And third, the idea I had this week, he did it just to prove off the Pharisees, right? Just to make them mad. And you'll see in a minute. Why? Because he did it on the Sabbath day. But the big point is this guy is so desperate. Jesus heals him. But more importantly, he's about to heal his soul. All right. 

Now I want to skip down to verse 35 but let me tell you what happens between verse 7 and verse 35. This guy is healed. I mean, he is excited about it. He goes home. He goes to his friends. He looks at his friends. He says, look, my eyes have been opened. He really tries to convince them, Hey, it's me.

00:17:50:12 - 00:18:03:02
Matt Petty
Look at me. Here I am. And they're like, We're really not sure. To which I don't even really know how that works because they've been seeing him his whole life. This guy was just introduced to himself, right? First time he's ever seen himself. Right. But he's like, no, it's me. They get so turned around in the story, they're going to look, we're going to take you to the religious people. We've got to take you to the Pharisees. So, they take this guy to the Pharisees to meet with the Pharisees. And then we see this very important part of the event in his first meeting with the Pharisees that we see in verse 14, where it says this now, the day in which Jesus made the mud and opened the man's eyes was the Sabbath day. It was the Sabbath day. If you know anything about Jews, if you're a Jewish person, you do nothing on the Sabbath day. And when I say nothing, I mean you don't even push the elevator buttons on the Sabbath day. You go to the Jewish quarter in Israel. Right now, on Sabbath day, you cannot even push the hotel floor buttons. It stops at every floor. That's how serious they were about this rule. Well, Jesus is showing these people that their rules are great and their rules are fabulous. But he's about to transform this man's life and their lives. But anyway, they bring this guy in and they look at this and go, Look, Jesus, this guy that you're claiming that healed you, he must be a sinner because he did this on the Sabbath day, and he must be a sinner. 

And all of them got together like, Yeah, he's a sinner, he's a sinner. But the Bible says a few of them are like, Well, but wait a minute, he healed him, so he must have a connection with God. It gets so bad that the Pharisees don't know what to do with them. So, the Pharisees call in this guy's parents and verse 18 they call in this adult man's parents, and they're like, Listen, we need to know something. Is this your son? And like, Yeah, that's our son. Was this guy born blind? They're like, Yeah, he was born blind. Well, who did this? And the parents are like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, we're staying out of this mess, right? We don't want to be involved with your story. This guy is of age. If you want to know from him, you need to ask him. It's very interesting. They did this and here's why. They did not want to have to take a stand to the Pharisees to say that this guy really was the Messiah. They wanted to stay out of it because they would have been thrown out of society. Well, so then, since his friends will say it's him, since his parents won't say it's him, the Pharisees bring this poor guy. Now, notice this guy just woke up and went to beg. All right. I don't even know if he's asking for this. He has to go back to the Pharisees for a second meeting with them in verse 24. And this encounter gets hot. This encounter gets snippy. And this poor blind man, he's standing in for these religious leaders, and they tell him, you need to repent. And he's like, repent. And you just see, I didn't do anything. I'm just standing here. They say, you need to repent because this sinner has done this to you. Now notice what he says. It's one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. It's the best evangelistic verse I've ever read. Verse nine. I mean, verse 25 says this. Then he replies, This is the blind men. Whether he's a sinner or not, I do not know. The one thing I do know is that I was blind. But now I see. But now I see. Church, I'm telling you, that's one of the most powerful verses that you can ever remember in your life. Because you don't have to have all the answers. 

You don't have to have all the theological background. You don't have to have all the proofs in your life. But nobody can take from you what Christ has done in your life. Nobody can refute that. And it's exactly what this poor, young, previous blind guy is saying. You see the leaders; they push and push and push. Even after he says this, the leaders push, and they run out of intelligent arguments. And what do we always do when we run out of intelligent arguments? Then we start to attack someone personally. Right. That's kind of how we all roll in our arguments. Right. And so, then they started to attack him personally and they run him out of town. And it seems like the joy of the day is gone at this point, but it's never gone when Jesus is on the scene. Watch this. In verse 35, Jesus heard that they had thrown this man out, him out. And when they found him, they said, Do you believe? He said, Do you believe in the son of man? Who is he, sir? The man asked. Tell me that I may believe in him, Jesus said. You have now seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking to you. Verse 38. Circle it. Underline it. Do whatever you got to do. Here it is. Then the man said, Lord, I believe any worshiped him. And Jesus said, Catch this, this one's strong. For judgment I've come into the world. Jesus, hey, this is part of my purpose. I'm here to distinguish those who know me and those who do not know me. Keep going for judgment. I've come into the world so that the blind will see. In other words, those that are spiritually blind, those are spiritually calling out, those are spiritually receptive to me. I have come to save them. Here it is. Those who are blind will see and those who will see, those who see will be blind. What does that mean? That means those who think they have it all together, those who pride takes them away, those whose pride says they don't need Jesus, who say, I can already see I don't need you. Jesus says, okay, then I'm going to give you your wish and you're going to be apart from me. All right. Watch this verse 40. Some Pharisees, who were with him, heard and said and asked, What are we blind too? 

Jesus said, If you are blind, the words of you were receptive of me. You wouldn't be guilty of sin because he would forgive them. Right? But now that you claim you can see your guilt remains. Now there's so much in these last verses. But here's what I want to show you real quick. I want to show you the contrast of the man who now sees in all these people who just think they see all these religious people that think they have it all together. They think they know better than Jesus. They think they can do life on their own. So, Jesus now in the story gives this spiritual side to this previous born blind guy, but he's simultaneously how Jesus can only do it pronounces judgment on the religious authorities who don't know him, who don't need him. You see, blind Bob, it's not really his name, but he doesn't even get a name in Scripture, for goodness’ sake, right? This this blind guy now sees with his soul. But Jesus calls out these religious people and says this, listen, if you would just quit walking around with your high and mighty attitude, you're religious I'm better than you attitude. With your moral attitudes that thinks that you've got it all together. And if you would look to me, Jesus tells them I would save you. But Jesus looks at him in verse 41 and says, But because you won't do that, you are on your own. Church I just proposed to you that that's where so many of us live. We live in our morals; we live in our goodness. We live in our ideas that we are better than someone else. But have we fully allowed Jesus to transform our hearts? Have we let Him have our souls? So, here's the question to me. To me this week and to you, how am I approaching God? All right. Do I approach God every single day with God, I need you to give my soul sight today? I need you to heal me where I'm at today. I need you to take my heart today. Or do I approach God with an attitude? I've got it together more than them, and so I'm okay. That's the two sides of the story, right? But here's the problem with this. In the text, it is really easy to see who is now blind and who is really now seeing. But in our hearts, here's what I know about you, and I know about me. I'm really good at deceiving myself where I am spiritually. I'm really good. And in fact, Paul David Tripp says it like this. He says spiritual blindness isn't like physical blindness. When you're physically blind, you know you're blind. So, you compensate for this significant physical deficit. But spiritual blind people are not only blind catch this church, they are also blind to their own blindness. 

They think they see well. So, the spiritually blind person walks around with the delusion that no one else has a more accurate view of himself than he does. You see, the sad thing is, is that Tripp says that like the Pharisees, so many of us, we look like we're okay. We talk like we're okay, we speak like we're okay. We may even have the morals like we are okay, but we're not okay. We're blind to who Jesus is, and we need Jesus to not only give a sight for our eyes, but we need Him to give us sight for our souls to know who he is. So, here's the question that I want to close with this morning. How do I know that I know that I know that I'm no longer walking by sight, but I'm walking by faith in who Jesus is? Here's the good news. The story tells us. The story gives us some indicators of the spiritual life that has now been opened to see Jesus. It gives us kind of a diagnostic test to see if I have received spiritual sight so that I can now follow Jesus with my life. There’re three quick indicators. Here's number one Spiritual sight leads to radical obedience for Jesus. It leads to radical obedience for Jesus. You see, when I truly see Jesus, here's what I mean by this. When I truly see Jesus, my initial response is always me being obedient to what He asks me to do. Why? Because I always do the things that are worth it to me. Nobody has to tell me to do the things that I love to do. Nobody has to tell me to do the things that I long to do in my life. Nobody has to get up and go, Hey, Matt, you need to go to lunch today. Nobody has to do that. I love to eat. Nobody has to say that. 

It's what obedience says to us. In fact, I always act on what matters most to me. Look at verse seven, I say, go. He told him. Jesus told him wash in a pool of Siloam. So, the man went and washed and came home seeing. One of the most profound parts of this whole event is that this blind man never pushes back on Jesus at all. Do you realize there's no mention of man, what are you doing? Why are you smearing this on my face? Why are you sending me to this pool? Why are you asking me to do this? There's no justification. There's no delayed obedience. This guy just acts. Do you know why? Because he's desperate. He's desperate. And when we are desperate, we move in the direction of Jesus. When we run out of other things that we think we can fill our lives with. It is at that point we can move in the direction of Jesus like the blind man. Are you, are you to a point, your life where you've tried it every other way and you just need to quit trying? You need to submit to being obedient to what God is asking you to do. Have you ever noticed in the New Testament, the theme really and truly is that it is the desperate people who come to Jesus? It is, isn't it? We're seeing it in this one this morning. You know why? Because they don't care what it looks like. They don't care what other people think. They need deliverance. And they need Jesus to do something in them. They need him to heal them. So let me say it like this. If you're having a hard time going where God wants you to go or doing what God wants you to do, listen to this. It's probably not a discipline problem in your life. You see, obedience is not usually a discipline problem. It's a desperation problem to desperation problem. 

So, let me ask you today, are you being desperate in your life to let Jesus transform you by walking out his obedience? Number one spiritual site leads to radical obedience. All right. But here's number two. Spiritual sight leads to profound boldness for Jesus. It leads to profound boldness for Jesus. You see it? It leads to radical obedience. Secondly is profound boldness. I told you that this guy has met with the religious people two times, right? Two times. The first one, he looks at Jesus and he calls Jesus in verse 17, a prophet in front of them. Right. But the second time we actually get to see how bold this guy is, they bring him in. They tell him he should repent in saying that Jesus is a prophet. He looks at him. He's like, Hey, I don't know all that stuff. All I know is I was blind and now I can see. 'all figure it out. Don't really matter to me at this point. But then in verse 27, he gets even more snippy in his boldness. Now, I love the snippy ness of this guy's life. Right? In fact, let me read verse 27. It says this. This is right after they keep going. Are you sure it's him? Are you sure it's him? Are you sure it's him? Watch this. And then he answered, This is this is the former blind guy I've told you already. You did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Man, that's a church word, right? And then watch what he says. Do you want to become his disciples too? I love this guy’s boldness. This guys just had his sight. I mean, restored for the first time in his life. He's just had his heart open to who Jesus is. And now he's trying to lead the Pharisees to know who Jesus is. Like. Y'all keep asking questions about him and y'all might get saved. Right? Here he goes. But they didn't like that too much. They hurled these insults at him, and it gets even better in verse 30, the man answers after all these insults, he says, the man answer. Now, this is remarkable. You don't know where he comes from yet. He opened my eyes. We know that God doesn't listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of the opening of the eyes of a man born blind. Verse 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. He sees it. Church, when our eyes of our heart are opened up. When we move from being blind to being able to see. There is a boldness that settles in inside of us that says, I really don't care what other people try to attach to me as long as my life is attached to the Messiah Jesus who has brought me from death to life. I don't want this to be lost on us because it's not like this guy standing before them and he knows he's just about to kind of be shamed a little bit. 

No, this guy knows exactly what he's saying. Exactly who's he saying it to, and he knows to implications of what's about to happen to him. He is about to be thrown out of not just the church I'm not talking about. Oh, he got thrown out of burnt hickory. He's going down to First Baptist down the road. He's about to be thrown out of all society. But he stands up and says, Hey, it's worth it because Jesus is worth it, and he is always worth it. He knows his heart has been opened. Let me ask you this. Is your life defined by boldness? Or is your life defined by, hey, I'm just going to try to be moral and maybe people won't ask me to do anything. You see, when your eyes of your heart are open, it is always leads to profound boldness. And here's number three Spiritual sight leads to total surrender to Jesus. It leads to total surrender for Jesus. This is what the whole account is looking at, isn't it? This whole account is looking towards this guy that gets his eyes open, that gets his heart open. And I want to show you what happens in him. I'm going to read it to you again. Verse 35, Jesus heard that they had thrown this man out. And when he found him and he finds us, doesn't he? He said, Do you believe in the son of man? Who is he sir? The man asked. Tell me so that I may believe verse 37. Jesus said, You have now seen him. In fact, he's the one speaking to you. Then the man said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. What do we just see? Jesus not only opens this guy's physical eyes to the world, he opens his spiritual eyes to see who Jesus is and catch this. Even more than that, the only response that comes when Jesus truly saves us is the two things that we see here surrender and worship. Surrender and worship. It is it? What did he say, Lord, I believe? And what did he do? He worshiped him. He worshiped him. Worshiped him, you know what that word believe means right here? It doesn't mean like I have a feeling, I know some knowledge that we're believe here means that I know so much and believe so much that I'm willing to take action. That's what this word believe means. You know what the word worship means right here? It means that he literally prostrated himself. He fell on the ground in front of Jesus and said, All of me is all of yours, I am yours. You know what amazes me the most about this story? The religious leaders are still standing up beside him, looking at him, going, man, that poor, pitiful guy. This man now sees clearly. Here's the question. Do you? Do you see clearly? This man met Jesus and now he's all about Jesus. It's all about knowing Jesus and loving Jesus and worshiping Jesus. This blind guy has gone from a suffering beggar to seeing and worshiping Son of God. But here's the good news. It's the same transformation that Jesus offers you. It's the same one He offers us. 

Yes, Jesus is not walking down the aisle of the church, but he is Emmanuel. He is present and he offers this to all of us. That's what the whole transformation is there for, to show us that just as he transformed this man, he can transform you. Two challenges and we're done. Listen to me close. Number one, if you're desperate, I don't know what you came in with. I started this whole thing with desperate. If you're desperate, if you're hurting, if you came in with some emotional heaviness and suffering. Let me let me say this. I'd started with it for the whole morning. He knows you. He knows you. He knows you. And he knows you so great and loves you so much, he wants to deliver you, give you life. Will you lift your eyes up to him when you lift your soul up to him? The only one that can give you a spiritual side. Are you tired of trying to chase everything else in this world? It's just not working. And this text shows us that Jesus transforms. Secondly, here it is for a lot of us, and we're pretty good religious people, are we? I mean, we are. We live the life; we dress the part. We go to the deal. But let me ask you today, are you letting Jesus challenge your soul? Are you letting him illuminate your heart? Are you looking at him saying, God, I'm going to give you the obedience no matter the cost? I'm going to be bold no matter the consequences. I'm going to surrender no matter what you ask. Church, that's the life of a believer. The life of a believer is not who has the biggest Bible, who comes to the most stuff and who knows everything. The life of the believer is the one that is standing there going, Hey, I don't know all there is to know about this guy, but I was blind. But now I see. Lord Jesus today. Would you move in this place in these next couple of minutes and show us that you are king, you str Lord and you str Savior, and you are healer, and you are mighty. 

I'm just going to ask you just for a second with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, I'm just going to ask you, where are you right now? Are you the blind guy sitting by the road just needing Jesus to save you today? Are you the disciples? Maybe you're walking with Jesus, but compassion is not part of your heart, and this lesson shows you that, yes, he's the one that delivers. But we're the ones that give his message to the world. Or are you the Pharisees that's just attached to the laws, but you're still blocked? What do you need Jesus to do in your life today? How do you need Him to deliver you today? The great part about this story is that every single one of us falls into one of these categories, and I guarantee it isn’t Jesus. We're either disciples, and we need to give a gift, some compassion. We're either a blind guy who needs delivering, or we're a Pharisee that just needs our heart to be changed. If you need Jesus today, you can just simply, as the Apostle Paul would say it, confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and he'll save you. You can pray something like Lord Jesus I know I need you to save me. Come into my life. Forgive me my sins make me yours. You're my savior and my lord. If that's your heart this morning, you just gave that and offered that to God. Here's what I can say to you. Welcome to the Kingdom of God. You have been healed, brought from death to life. But maybe this morning you're a believer. You just need God to move in your heart to give you a fresh vision. Lord, move in this next imitation moment. God, if people have given their life to Jesus today, I'm going to be up here on the front I would love for them just to walk over to me and say, Matt, I met Jesus today. 

What do I need to do? I'd love to pray with them and walk with them. Maybe there's other people that just need somebody to pray over them here today. We got people available for that. Maybe in the silence of this moment, God, everybody in this room can lift up a prayer to you to say, God, I need you to give me sight who you are and what you want me to do. Lord, thank you for this next moment we can walk together in song. Thank you, Lord Jesus. It's in your name, Amen. Amen. 

Stand with me and sing.