Sent Ones Series

You know, one of those things that we receive when we become Christians is we receive a testimony. You get a testimony and that testimony is pretty powerful. It's a testimony that helps you to be able to communicate a message to the world. There's a world waiting out there for a message that's needed, and your testimony is a powerful tool. So young people, I want you to think about that tool for a moment. Maybe if you've grown up in a Christian home, as I did, there's a temptation sometimes to say, “Well, my testimony isn't that dramatic.” But it is a powerful tool to be able to say, “You know, I grew up in a Christian home, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and then God helped me to navigate around some of the pitfalls and challenges that might have existed. God is at work in my life.” Others of you have dramatic testimonies. You were really bad people. And God saved you. And we like to hear those dramatic testimonies how bad you were, and then how God saved you. But sometimes you can feel that sense of inadequacy and say, “Man, I was really bad.” But God uses this testimony in any of our lives.

We're going to talk about that testimony today, because we're going to look at John 9 about the blind man because he has a testimony he's going to share with others. We can learn from his experience some things about our own lives and our own testimony that we can share with other people.

But in order to read that passage, I want to look at another Bible verse. One that comes from a different disciple, not John, but comes from Peter. As Peter is talking about the value of a testimony, he says these words. I want to read these out loud before you, so would you stand with me, please. In fact, I want you to read with me these words from 1 Peter 3:15 about a testimony. Let's read this together. But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

I love that because, one, we put Christ first. He’s holy, separate. He's the most important thing in our lives. Secondly, we want to be prepared to give that defense for what's inside of us, that testimony that we have inside. And we need to do it gently and with respect. I love that it's such a balanced statement.

We're going to see more about the testimony of the blind man. But first, let's look at the miracle that took place in John 9. You can open your Bibles with me. John 9, we're going to pick it up in verse 6 where it says these words. Jesus, having said these things, spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

I wonder where the miracle actually took place? Was his optic nerve healed and his cornea and iris and all the other stuff in the eyeball, was that all healed when He put the mud on his eyes? Or when God said, “Here's what I want you to do. Here's your part, you need to go.” And so he took off going. When he started to go, was his eyes healed? Or when he got to the pool and stepped in, were his eyes healed? Or when he got in and he washed the mud off of his eyes, was that when the miracle took place? I don't know. But I do know that when he came out of that water and all the mud was washed off, he looked out for the first time in his life and he could see. I can't even imagine what that would have been like for him to now see things he had never seen before in his whole life.

That's what happens when you become a Christian, you know. That now there's a miracle that takes place in our heart and we can now see things we never saw before. We start looking at life differently. We go, “Whoa, this is so amazing.” Because it's like the Lord gives us new eyes. He heals us and we can now see things we've never seen before.

Now John makes this…it’s in parentheses, but he makes this interesting statement in the middle about this pool of Siloam. Now, the pool of Siloam was a pool that was 225-feet in length. I mean, it was a big pool. In fact, it was well known to everyone because the pool of Siloam was the place where pilgrims who were coming up for the three feasts to Jerusalem would stop and they would go dip themselves in the pool of Siloam as this cleansing, this ritualistic washing. You know, that I'm coming up clean before the Lord into this special place of Jerusalem for this special feast to remember an aspect of God's character in our history. They would wash themselves in the pool of Siloam.