Amen, amen. All right, let's jump in it. Where y'all been? What you got? What you been picking up on? Anything you wanna talk about? Don't have to be in John, that's for sure, but man, there's enough in there to talk about for days. They are, same day, same event, same time. Same time, they follow one another. Chapter nine is a big chapter dealing with this blind man. who had been blind from birth and the whole chapter is in relationship to Jesus dealing with him and dealing with these false shepherds, these Pharisees, and that's where he leads right in chapter 10 about the false shepherds. And they wanting to kill him, aren't they? I think from chapter five on to where we are now, they tried to either take him or kill him. They tried to kill him on three different occasions. And then he brings up in chapter seven that they want to kill him on several times in chapter seven. But three different times, they tried to either stone him, to get their hands on him, or at various times, they tried to take him with the intent to kill him. So this has been some serious stuff going on. But what was you seeing, Brother Shannon? First of all, we see that he was truly without sight. Yeah, he was blind, born blind. So this is not something that happened to him. He was born that way. But we all are born blind. We are. Until we have an encounter with Jesus, we're not gonna be able to see. And so I looked at this as more of a spiritual blindness also as opposed to just a physical blindness. Right, it is a because that's what he tells the Pharisees at the end. Y'all are blind. Y'all are blind. Yeah. And so sin's still in you. That's right. And when you become where you can see, then sin's there, but it's forgiven you because you now see. Like the woman who was called on adultery when he told her your sins are forgiven, who condemns you? I don't condemn you, go and sin no more. Well, what we see in chapter nine is an event that took place with a real guy, with a real Jesus, with real issues and real problems going on. And he deals with it from that perspective, but it is a Chapter nine we can say is a synopsis of all of us and our spiritual blindness and what happens when Jesus does open our eyes that we just can't explain other than the fact that I was blind to this, but somebody opened my eyes. And then we get to Jesus and the more we learn from Jesus, the more we listen to Jesus, like the guy said, I don't know. All I know is I was blind and now I see. And then Jesus is going to find him and then clarify who he was talking to and he was willing to yield. Whatever this man says, I'm going to trust him in it. And we see this picture. Now what the Pharisees, the people were doing, were questioning him. They had such an impression on the people that the boy's parents wouldn't even legitimately stand up for the boy because they were afraid they would be kicked out. And you see, that's what happens with us when our eyes are open and we have family or friends or people around us who recognizes, hey, this person, they're different. They're not the same person anymore. They may not want to stand with Jesus, but they can't deny something happened to you. But because of the pressure from an outside world, they're not going to stand with you. They're going to say, let him tell you what happened. And that's exactly what they did because they were they were afraid of not being accepted. So they wouldn't stand up for Jesus. Why? Because they were still in blindness. Even though their son just received sight, they still in the darkness. So they don't see Jesus the same way this boy sees Jesus. They're not gonna trust Jesus the way this boy trusted Jesus. They're more concerned about how the world's gonna look at them now that this Jesus has done something for their boy. And they're gonna have trouble with it because of the pressure from an outside world that was upon them, especially these false shepherds, these Pharisees, these rulers, these leaders that put so much pressure on them. It tells you this, look in, chapter nine in verse number 22, 922. Well, 21 says, but by means he now sees we do not know. or who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age, ask him and he will speak for himself. Now they knew, it's obvious. They knew, look what it says in verse 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, verse 23. That is, anyone confessed that Jesus was the Christ, they would be put out, verse 23. Therefore his parents said, he is of age, ask him. They put it on him. They passed the book on to the boy. And the boy then says, 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. What was they trying to get him to do? Give God the glory and call Jesus a sinner. So this tells us that these people, including the parents could not see that Jesus was God. So what are they trying to do? They're trying to put words in his mouth. They're trying to manipulate him. They're trying to manipulate this boy. Now what does the boy do? Because something had happened to him. He says in verse 25, he answered and said, whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know. And that's important because when a person's eyes have been opened, you don't know everything there is to know about Jesus. We're all growing in our relationship with him. We don't know everything. But we don't have to know everything. That's where Jesus said, if we trust him like a babe. We don't have to know everything about him. Now watch, one thing I know that though I was blind, now I see. Then they said to him again, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? And he answered them, I've already told you and you do not listen. Why do you wanna hear it again? Do you also wanna become his disciples? You see he's now turning around. Do you wanna be one of his that's gonna follow him, like me? I've already told you, so why you keep battering me on this? I'm not changing the story that I have. I was blind and now I see. They know what you said, but they wanna keep asking you the same question over and over, hoping that you'll change your statement. Well, that's what they wanted. They wanted them to pressure on him so that this boy would denounce this. If we keep putting pressure on him, like we put pressure on his parents, his parents, they knew, discerned that the parents most likely knew, but were intimidated by them where they can get him to be intimidated too. And they would have settled for his lie. As long as it didn't credit Jesus. They would have settled for the lie. If you just tell us he didn't do it, I'll be okay with it. Even though something legitimate happened, they would settle for the lie. Because remember, their whole life is built on a lie. Everything they're doing is built on lies. Even though they don't think it's a lie, the evidence that they would settle for the lie tells us that it was more about keeping Jesus back than standing on truth. That was the whole point of it. They would side with the enemy. to keep the name of Jesus at bay. He goes on to say, look, in verse number 28, what did they do? Then they reviled him and said, you are his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. Now, Jesus already dealt with that in chapter five. He said, everything Moses wrote, wrote about me, but you don't believe me. Moses is gonna judge you in the judgment for the truth that he wrote. You didn't believe him. You don't believe him. See, but they are standing on lines. Verse 29, we know that God spoke to Moses. Now as for this fellow in regards to Jesus, we do not know where he is from. Now he's already told them where he's from, but they couldn't what? They were blind. He goes on, said, verse 30, the man answered and said, why this is a marvelous thing that you do not know where he is from, yet he has opened my eyes. He said, let's go back to the root of it. Why is this so essential that you got to know where he's from? You're making this the big deal. I'm telling you, I was blind and now I can see. See, you have the evidence in front of you. He says, and this guy, he's testifying, verse 31. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he hears them. Since the world began, it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. We don't have any evidence, he's saying, of anybody. Y'all don't know anyone who was born blind and now can see. If this man were not from God, he could do what? He could do nothing. And they answered, now this is what they did. They answered him and said, you are completely born in sin. This is where the story started. Right? The story started when they come across the blind man, the disciples asked Jesus if it was this man or his parents that sinned. Now we know he was born in sin, but the result of this blindness wasn't a direct result of anything that his parents did or didn't do or anything he did or didn't do. Jesus said he was born blind so that God would work this work a miracle on this particular day. The reason this boy lived these years in blindness so that he could meet Jesus that day and Jesus do this work. And the spiritual segue there is, It's the same, this whole process that we have recorded in this entire chapter is the same things that happen to somebody who is born again, whose eyes have been opened, whose sins have been forgiven, and the world around them questions them that doesn't belong, who haven't been born again themselves, who has not Jesus as their shepherd, they don't wanna stand with them, they don't want to, they question them because they question the source of it, where it came from, who's done this, or this may happen to you, but this guy is not anybody that we wanna follow. And the same deal goes on with all of us. Look back in chapter nine in the first few verses. Look in chapters nine and one. Get this picture here. Now, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, said, teacher, rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? Everybody knew he was born blind. This wasn't somebody who just went blind with age, they knew it. It was obvious this guy most likely did what he did on a regular basis. People knew who he was. You gotta figure they're there by the temple. That's what the lame did. They went and they were usually beggars and they knew it. Jesus said this in verse number three, neither this man nor his parents sinned, not that they were not without sin because they had sinned, but the direct result of the blindness wasn't any direct result of them. Now notice this word, neither but that the works of God should be what, revealed in him. This man, what Jesus just said, this man was born blind that this many years down the road he would meet me. at this juncture in life and I would do a marvelous work for him in that day as a testament to the glory of God and as a witness to those who don't believe and as a witness to those who do believe. This boy was born for this purpose for this day. He was born blind. Now when you think about that and you think about a lot of things in life, We rarely ever attribute things of that nature for a person to be born in this particular way for the purpose and the glory of God. And that's where we have to go back. The scripture says we're fearfully and wonderfully made. And that God created all things that would be for his honor and his glory. That the whole earth and the fullness thereof belongs to the Lord. And he just said that neither this boy nor his parents did anything to get him in this place. He was born in this condition so that he would encounter me this day and me do this work in him and create this tension in his life, to create this tension in his parents' life, to create this tension with these Pharisees and these scribes and these chief priests and all these rulers, all this, This boy was born for on this day that I may do the works of God in him and that everybody would testify. Now it's written forever in the Chronicles of the Word of God. So he was born for this. Verse four, Jesus said, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am what? The light of? the world. So when you go back and then look again in chapter nine and we see what's going on with this boy and what happens to those who are what? They are anti what Jesus did. So to be anti what Jesus did is to be anti what God did. They are anti God. Now how did they, look in verse 34 of chapter nine. They answered and said to him, you were completely born in sins and are you teaching us? As if they wasn't born in sins. As if they are in another status than this blind boy who now can see. And what did they do to him? They had different and you couldn't ever get from here up there. But that was all based on their standards and nothing based on the truth. They had set themselves up to protect themselves. So, okay, they would have settled for the boy to discredit Jesus and they would have accepted his lie. but because the boy wouldn't discredit Jesus, now they have to discredit Him. That's what they've done. That's what they've been doing with Jesus. They couldn't deny what He's done, but if we discredit Him, we can deny how He done it. If they could dismantle that and discredit that, The person, they could dismantle, discredit, and destroy the principle by which he operated in. And that's exactly what a world would do to you and me. I'd like to go back to verse four again. Verse four, we will. Give me one second. Give me one second. Look at this again. This is how they do it. If they're gonna discredit the principle of this boy seeing again, they had to discredit the person. That's what people would do with you and me in this world. This is why I believe all, remember this is so that Jesus could do the works of God. This could be for the glorification of God because this is what happens to all of us when we come out of darkness into the light. people will discredit us. Well, I knew, I know Nick Holden, I know Keith Palmer, I know who you used to be. You know better than any of us. So what they do is they discredit us to discredit the principle of what happened to us. I had many cousins that knew me when I was bad, grew up bad. Then when we got together and I became this Christian, Don't point the finger at us. Yeah, we know you Yeah So if they can't legitimize the principles by which you live by now, they have to discredit you as the person. And that's what they did with Jesus. That's what they do with Jesus followers. That's a process that the enemy uses with the people in this world that can't see who he is. They discredit, they dismantle and destroy you so they don't have to legitimize the principle of what you live in by now. Now, what did Jesus do though? What did Jesus do when they cast the boy out? Because they discredited him and said, who are you? You better, you're a sinner and we're teachers and you now gonna teach us about the principle of these things? You're nobody. You're nobody. You're a failure. and totally bypass what legitimately happened to the boy and tried to what, destroy his character. They would, they would. Well, if they did, it would discredit all they stood on. So either I'm gonna discredit you or I'm gonna discredit everything I'm standing on. Something's gotta get discredited here. You have to dismantle it. So their way of living is over here. And if I agree with you over there, this boy that's just been, his eyes have been open and he's telling us all about Jesus. And he says, do you wanna be his disciple too? He said, I'm gonna follow this guy, whoever he is. I was born this way. So they either have to jump over with him and say, you're right, or discredit him because they still wanna stand on what they're holding on to. And it's just, and I think this is why this whole story is given to us. Number one, for God to be glorified in this boy, but this boy is representative of all of us that ever received sight in Christ, the same things are gonna happen. And boy, did Jesus come to him when they kicked him out. They didn't kick his parents out, because his parents was afraid of him. The scripture says Jesus heard that they had cast him out and when he had found him, that is Jesus went looking for him, didn't he? So when people discredited him, dismantled his character and destroyed any opportunity for fellowship with them, Jesus came found him, came to him. And he said to him, do you believe in the Son of God? Now watch, watch this. Just like you and me, there's a lot that we still don't know. And he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? You point him out to me, I trust you. I bow to knee to you, you're my Lord. You're the one who freed me from this blindness. You point him out, I'm gonna believe him. Verse 37, and Jesus said to him, you both see him, you have both seen him, and it is he who is talking to you. You talking to him. Then he said, Lord, I believe, and what did he do? He worshiped him, verse 38. And Jesus said, for judgment, for distinction, for a verdict, I have come into this world, that means to make a distinction, that those who do not see, that would be the blind, like him, we were blind and couldn't see, that we may see. And those who see how they wanna see life may be blind to it all. Then some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said, are we blind also? And Jesus said, if you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say we see, therefore you condemn yourself and your sin remains. And he tells them in chapter eight, you're gonna die in your sin. because you don't believe. You're gonna die in your sin. So what does Jesus do? He makes a clear distinction of a verdict on who stands with him in what they see and who stands against him in how they see life. This boy who was blind but now can see is standing with Jesus. And that's the distinction that Jesus makes in this world. He separates those who can see him and who can't see him. who serve him and who don't serve him, who trust him, who are not trusting him. And then when you go in the chapter number 10, it's the same day outside, because remember, they kicked the boy out. So it says, most assuredly, I say to you, who does not enter the sheepfold by the door. Now he's talking to these Pharisees, and he's gonna make reference, you are the bad shepherds, but I'm the good shepherd. I'm the door. And he uses these figures of speech of illustrating to him, because all of them knew what a shepherd was, they all knew what sheep were, and he just goes right into teaching them at that same time when he says, your sin remains. Together, that's right. Yes, during the night, they had a porter, a doorkeeper. A shepherd would call or have a bell or something, and only those sheep that were his would come out. They recognized his voice. And then another shepherd would come up and say something, and another sheep would come out. That's right. They would do it one by one, each shepherd. They had a doorkeeper that watched them during the night. The old King James used the word porter. A porter is an old English word which means doorkeeper or one who carries a burden. And he kept the gate and wouldn't let anybody in. And the thieves, when they came in, they would have to come over the wall or another way, but sheep wouldn't follow them. So they normally would have to cut the sheep's throat and get him over the wall, and then they would take his wool and then sell his wool, sell his meat, whatever they were doing. That's what the thieves would do. But no thief would come through the gate. One, because the doorkeeper knew who the shepherd was, and he wouldn't let just anybody come in and take, because he was accountable for those sheep. And Jesus said that not only is he the shepherd, but he's also the door. that we get to go in and out of. And that's what this passage is talking about. It's about salvation. He says that, that they may be saved. He who comes in through me will be saved and go in and out and find pasture. So verse four, you were saying, Brother Shannon? Nine four. What he says in He says it several occasions, but we've read it in what? In John 5, chapter 5, he says that. Okay, so then that's not just the miracles. It's not the wine, the water, the blindness, the lame. It's everything. It's everything. Everything in every way. Who he speaks to. And so he says here, I must work these works of him, of my father, that sent me while it is day. While there's light. While there's, while there's still time. And the night cometh when no man can work. Us now have Jesus in us. And Jesus is alive in us spiritually. And so there is work that we do, whatever the Father says for us to do. And it don't have to be healing. It don't have to be preaching. It don't have to be just whatever. Whatever he gives you to do. Whatever job that he gives us to do, there is life in us. that allows us to do that work. He is that light. There's coming a day when there will be nothing but darkness. And the idea in those days, very few people worked during the night. They didn't have, like we in our modern day, you'll have 24 hour places of business that work, we've got artificial lighting, we've got power, we could do those things. And that particular time the idea was at night everything rested and the creatures of the night came out. And you would have a porter, a doorkeeper, who carried that burden through the night while the shepherds went and rested. And then they would come back and get their sheep one by one, and when he called for their sheep, the sheep would go out and follow him. So very few people worked in the dark. And he was saying, while you have light, we work, because there's coming a day when there will be no light, and you won't be able to work. So while we have Jesus, and while he's in the world, and we know he lives in us, and he is the light of the world. Remember, life and light are interchangeably just like death and blindness. The blind are deaf as well. We were deaf and blind and lame. Remember when he sent back word to John the Baptist, go tell him these things, the lame walk and the deaf hear and the blind see. He raises the dead. That's right, because this is what God does when he rescues people. He raises them from the dead. He gives them ears to hear, gives them eyes to see. And then the world around us is gonna question and do what they did with this boy. They're gonna try to discredit. and dismantle and destroy our legitimacy to discredit, dismantle and destroy what we're living on. That's the only way it can be. Because you can't validate my principle of way of living when it's a narrow way as the door, there's only one way. And one door, one gate, one way, it's exclusive. I can't legitimize that and then have all these other ways. It just doesn't work that way. Either he is the way, the truth, and the life or he's nothing. Our way's God's way or it's not. And if it's not, then we have to discredit God's way, one way or another, and the only way to really do that is discredit the people, just like they were trying to do with Jesus and any Jesus follower. But evidences of those that have their eyes open is that they can see, they can hear, they do know, and they do love. They love Jesus, they listen to Jesus, but they love his people. They listen to His people. They're at oneness with His people. And those are all markers that we can see God's work in that, that our eyes have been opened, amen? So all day, when you really look at nine, it's really a great picture of just all of us and the things we all deal with and go through. Well, look, it's about that time we wrap it up. We'll probably look at some of these things again in chapter 10. between eight, nine, and 10 this morning in the service. I am the good shepherd. Everybody needs, everybody needs a crucified shepherd, the good shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep. Everybody needs a compassionate shepherd, a great shepherd who has guided us through His will according to Hebrews 13 and 20, 21. And then we have, everybody needs a coming shepherd who is the chief shepherd, who when He returns, He will reward those with a crown. So when you think about that, That is a sermon right there. You got a shepherd who has compassion for the people, who cares for the people. Remember when he's saying that when he fed the 6,000? In Matthew's gospel, Mark's gospel, it said he looked and he recognized they were like sheep without a shepherd. And so he is the shepherd, but he's not just a shepherd, he's a good shepherd. He's a great shepherd and he's the chief shepherd. And the Bible refers to him in all these cases. Yes, they do. In 23, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not, he's our shepherd. The good shepherd though, lays his life down for the sheep. That's where John 10 comes in. And in contrast, when you look at the Older Testament, in Ezekiel 33 and 34, Jesus said those shepherds, and the shepherd was a leader, a ruler, that was the idea. He says they were bad shepherds because they only looked out for themselves. So God says, there's coming a day I'm gonna raise up my shepherd. And my shepherd is gonna give his life for the sheep. And not only is he a shepherd, you gotta remember, he's a lamb. He's a lamb too. Come on in. He's a lamb. Glory, glory. Good morning, good to see y'all. Good to see you. He's good, Brother Shannon. We got work to do while it's light, huh?