EXPERIENCING NEW LIFE
TWO SENTENCE PRAYER: “Lord speak to my heart, and change my life.”
OPENING:
I want to talk to you about new stuff. Do you feel beat up or dinged up by life? One thing the world can’t touch is new life in Christ!
KEY TEXT:
“What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
THE BIG IDEA: Christianity is not about trying to be good or keep the 10 commandments. It is about experiencing new life in Christ. Once we encounter Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, old things pass away, and everything becomes new.
• Anyone who becomes a Christian is made a new creation – radical transformation.
• Like a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. You are a new person – a new beginning!
• ILLUSTRATION: It’s like playing a video game. When you die, you start over with a new life. You can have as many new beginnings as you want!
• “God’s mercies are new every morning.” (Lam. 3:22-23).
BIBLE STORY:
“Preaching is easy – it’s just bragging on Jesus until He shows up!”
1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
• Notice that new life for this man began when Jesus ‘passed by’.
• He had been born blind, and the disciples wanted to discuss theology: “Why was he born blind?” Jesus said, “You missed the point. God wants to perform a miracle!”
• Jesus did His part – He made the clay that He put on His eyes, and told Him to wash.
• If the blind man hadn’t obeyed Jesus, He might not have received His new life.
• But the man went and washed, and was translated out of darkness, into God’s light!
8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?" 9 Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he."
• The neighbours discussed and debated his transformation, but he said, “It’s me!”
10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ’Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight." 12 Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."
• Watch the progression in this man’s revelation and understanding of Jesus. First he referred to him as, “A man called Jesus.” And said, “I don’t know where He is.”
13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 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." 16 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. 17 They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."
• Notice the religious people – they didn’t care that the man was healed, they just wanted to discuss and debate it. However, the man who used to be blind testified that Jesus was a prophet – He was progressing in His understanding of who Jesus was.
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. 19 And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
• These religious people didn’t believe that this man could have actually experienced a transformation resulting in new life, so they questioned his parents.
24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." 25 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." 26 Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 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?" 28 Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from." 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! 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. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." 34 They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.
• Here, the man gives a powerful testimony: “One thing I know: Once I was blind, now I see.” You don’t have to have a perfect understanding of theology to be able to share your testimony – your story of the difference Jesus has made in your life.
• However, the religious leaders didn’t want to hear his testimony, and they put him out.
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?" 36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." 38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him. (John 9:1-38).
• People in the world today are in spiritual darkness – Jesus is the light of the world!
• See how the ex-blind man progressed in His understanding of who Jesus was: First, he was ‘a man’, then he said Jesus was ‘a prophet’, then finally, he recognized he was the son of God, and worshipped Him.
PERSONAL TESTIMONY:
Start out with 18th birthday – drunk, passed out, threw up in friends car. Two months later at all-night drive-in: “There’s got to be more to life than getting drunk and partying!”
CLOSING TEXT:
“What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
• When you become a Christian, you get a new beginning, a new nature, a new joy, a new peace, a new hope, a new family, a new power, and a new destiny (Heaven!).
• Give your life to Jesus, get a new life! Confess your sins, get a new beginning!
WATER BAPTISM
ALTAR CALL FOR SALVATION
Beausejour Community Church Website: www.beausejourchurch.ca
Pastor Chris Jordan’s Blog: http://thelandofpromise.blogspot.com/
