The Story Of The Man Born Blind- A Journey Of Faith Series

INTRODUCTION

" SLIDE #1

" Have you ever thought that life had dealt you a bad hand? I mean it seems like you can never get ahead, that you have allowed your past to haunt you to this day?

" When we feel like life has somehow cheated us, it is so easy to turn away and blame God for what has happened.

" Today we are going to encounter a man of which we know little about.

" The fact is that when Jesus was with the disciples, they noticed whose sin made this person blind.

" In those days, being blind was a sentence to poverty, there was not much one could do other than to beg for what they needed to survive, or to rely on family.

" For this man, we also find from the text that he was blind from birth.

" The disciples asked Jesus the question because the thinking of the day was that people struck with such maladies as a direct result of someone's sin.

" We do not know a lot about this man other than he is blind from birth and that his parents are still living.

" In our series Spring into Life, we are looking at the lives of some of the people Jesus had some direct contact with to see how their lives were changed.

" This blind man is going to have the opportunity for a new life. The question is, will he take the offer?

" This man is going to embark on a journey of faith. He is not going to simply confess Jesus as his Lord at first sight, this man will have to embark on a journey.

" Let's walk that journey with him this morning.

" As we examine his journey we will gain a few insights as to what we can expect on our own journey of faith. The truth of the matter is that we at one point were all suffering from a spiritual blindness that only God through Jesus Christ can heal!

" Let's begin with our first observation.

" SLIDE #2

SERMON

I. The progression of the journey.

" We begin with a man Jesus and the disciples see as they are passing by.

" The question as to why he was blind is posed to Jesus.

" SLIDE #3

" John 9:3-5 (CSB) - 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," Jesus answered. "This came about so that God's works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

" So, Jesus does not answer their question directly, but He says that this man's tragedy came about so that God's works MIGHT be displayed in him.

" Now we begin the journey. This exchange had to have taken place close to the blind man because Jesus then begins in verse 6 to make mix some mud and spit together and then proceeds to rub it on the eyes of the blind man.

" When we are going to tell someone about Jesus, we need to introduce them to Jesus.

" This man received a unique introduction to Jesus.

" At this point, the blind man does not know what is happening, he does not know Jesus yet.

" However, Jesus then tells this spit mud covered man to do something.

" He tells the man to go to the pool of Siloam (SI LOW UM).

" Now this man has to decide with to do. What would you do if you were him, eyes full of spit mud?

" A step in this man's journey to faith is the question of obedience.

" The man has to decide if he is going to be obedient to his man he just met. Why not just go anywhere, why not just wipe the spit mud off himself?

" Then when it did not work, he could blame Jesus for him staying blind!

" How many people do that, they live in disobedience to Jesus, and then they blame Jesus for their issues.

" The man goes to the pool, washes, and HE CAME BACK WITH SIGHT!

" The man chose obedience and he was blessed!

" Blessing follows obedience and that is part of the faith journey!

" As we dig through the chapter until the man had vision, he had not seen Jesus, but other people saw the man was no longer blind!

" They were quizzing him about how he was healed. The man had to convince people that he indeed was the man who was blind!

" When asked how he was healed, I verse 11 the man said…