WW011602 Knowing and doing -two different things John 9:39-10:3
Beginning:
I know I am supposed to change the oil in my car every 3,000 miles.
I know that. I know that if I change it regularly my engine will last longer. I know that. In actuality I change oil about every 5,000-7,000 because I have it serviced four times a year no matter how many miles I have driven. Knowing to change my oil is not the same as changing my oil to the bearings in my engine. They don’t care if I know to change the oil. They only know wear if I don’t.
I know when the signal light shifts from green to yellow I am supposed to stop. I know that. I know that stopping on yellow is good for my safety. I know that. But I have this voice that is quicker than my foot on the brake that says, “You can make it – go fast.”
Knowing is not the same as doing!
Have you ever taken a bite you knew you could not chew? This text tonight is a bite I doubt if I am capable of chewing. There are concepts in tonight’s study that will challenge us all. There are deep thoughts in Jesus’ words here I have to walk away scratching my head about. There are some elements of it that are profoundly simply and clear, but other sayings that have the potential to remove us from our comfort zones forever.
Background:
There is an on-going struggle between Jesus and the established Jewish leadership.
The stakes of the struggle are huge. The Jews believe they have been given the privilege of exclusively knowing the mind of God. Jesus says they don’t know God and are in the way of others who want to know him. He calls them blind guides. He calls them serpents. He runs them out of the Temple for selling. He seems bent on confrontation.
Jesus’ words and actions will make the point tonight that knowing about God is not enough. He will say that knowing God means so much more than a religious form.
Burden:
In our world there are so many who affirm that God exists, but are stuck when it comes to making such knowledge impact their decisions and lives.
There are also many who think that believing in God is enough to be allowed into heaven. If Jesus is right, every attempt at gaining entrance to heaven is flawed outside of the shed blood of Jesus.
Jesus is a huge divider. He is the world’s most troubling character. You can’t ignore Him. He demands you do something.
He divides body from soul, families, churches, religious institutions and nations.
His claims are huge and demand such overt action He leaves us only two options. We must either believe in Jesus or reject Him.
There is no other neutral position.
The essence of John’s writing is this: Jesus’ presence brought the necessity to believe or reject Him, dividing humanity into two classes—the seeing and blind or the saved and lost.
Basic Truth:
One could make a case for believing that if you know to do something and then don’t do it, you are in much more trouble than if you didn’t know to do it in the first place. This is one of those hard-to-chew points I mentioned earlier.
This translated into a life application means that sitting in a worship service at Evergreen may be the most spiritually dangerous thing a person could ever do because here we dare to clarify people’s choices. We don’t beat about the bush as to what is required to be spiritual and heaven bound. We clearly pronounce that Jesus is God’s only way, and in that truth statement we force people into one of two groups.
One commentator said, “ It never occurred to the Pharisees that they could possibly be willfully, spiritually blind, but because of their claim to sight, to self-enlightenment, and to spiritual knowledge, Christ indicts them for not acting upon the revelation given according to their knowledge. Acting upon their knowledge would have necessitated their belief. Because they did not believe, they remained in sin.”
Another way to look at this nearly unchewable text is to ask the question, “When was the blind man actually saved?”
*Was he saved when Jesus put the mud on his eyes?
*Was he saved when he went in faith and washed?
*Was he saved when he found Jesus later and got to know him?
*Was he ever saved?
We know he did what Jesus asked, but did he believe?
When did the blind man go from knowing to doing the will of God?
Burning Question: What hard-to-chew truth is Jesus teaching here?
If you know to do something - do it. 39 Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." verse 41, “Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
There are those who take this particular saying of Jesus and mix it with other out-of-context Biblical statements and make a case for believing people are better off if we leave them alone missiologically speaking.
The biggest problem I have with this concept is that Paul in Romans declares that all men see God in some level of understanding.
There is lots of grace in this verse too. It holds open a door of hope for all the innocent of the world from small children, the mentally challenged, and the ignorant savage in some jungle.
There is much concern in this verse for those who live in an enlightened society. I believe the western world will have a much more difficult time in the final judgment of the activity of nations because we have lived in 2,000 years of Gospel light.
Life application: If God judges on the curve were in trouble. This verse indicates that he does. If you have a revelation from God failing to act is tantamount to spiritual treason.
Being around or even exposed to divine truth is not enough
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
If someone comes in to this community service tonight with a bad upper repertory infection everyone who is in his or her vicinity may be exposed to germs and viruses.
There are some people who are exposed to the Gospel by contagious Christians and seem immune to catching it. They sneeze the good news right in their faces and nothing takes. They share the same cup and don’t get a thing. They breathe the same air and walk away untouched.
The Jews were flooded with light and could not see. They were baptized in truth and did not lick their lips. They memorized the Word and did not let it sink into their hearts. There has never been a ethnic group so totally indoctrinated in the word as were they. Yet, they became immune.
Have you heard that people who live by busy highways or by train tracks develop the ability to no longer hear the traffic noise?
Could it be that we can develop the disability to hear God?
Luke 11:27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you."28 He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."
Mark 4 tells a parable of the seed and the farmer. The farmer sows his seed and it falls of different kinds of soil. The path was hard and birds ate the seed. The rocky soil warmed up quickly and became too hot before roots could take. The weedy soil choked the new growth and finally the good soil produced a bounty.
Life Application: An old pastor had a dream. He saw his preaching as handing out pearls to his congregation. In time the pearls would have amounted to a beautiful piece of jewelry. In his dream the church parking lot was nearly covered with pearls as his parishioners lost the precious pearls on their way to their cars.
Trying to invent your own way into heaven is a mistake with eternal consequences 10:1 "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep
These verses describe a morning shepherding scene. A shepherd enters through a gate into a walled enclosure which has several flocks in one sheep pen. The enclosure, with stone walls, is guarded at night by a doorkeeper to prevent thieves and beasts of prey from entering. Anyone who would climb the wall would do it for no good purpose.
There is a way. Jesus is the way. There are not other ways. Sheep will only follow one shepherd.
Imagine trying to convince the Father that He should allow you into heaven after having denigrated the death of His Son by living as if the blood of Jesus was nothing.
Life Application: I can understand the wrath of God better in this scenario.
What do I want you to know?
The saddest people in eternity are those who knew the most about Jesus and never did anything about it. Being close is a curse instead of a blessing if a faith step is not taken
What do I want you to do?
Exactly what you already know to do
