like that and on Saturday I send my subject for preaching on Sunday, I send it to Brother Aaron and he prayerfully and led by the Spirit chooses music to go with it. I'm in John chapter 9 verse number 1 this morning where the blind man met Jesus and everything was different from that day forward. And so I'm glad that the music matches up so well to our message. It helps drive home the point. When I met Jesus in 1980, it was like the difference between day and night. He changed me. It was all to His glory. I couldn't have changed myself. And I'm not all that I ought to be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be. The blind man, in John chapter 9, I'm going to talk about that this morning. The blind man meets the light. The blind man meets the light. Let's read the text in John chapter 9, verse number 1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered and said, Neither hath this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me. While it is day, the night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind men with the clay. And he said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent. He went his way therefore and washed and came seeing." Jesus just happened to come along where that blind man was. Did he just happen? Was this an accident? Everywhere Jesus went, he had a purpose and he had people in mind. And He sees them and He sees you and me and He knows what our needs are this very day. Let's pray together and see if He can meet some of our needs. Father, I pray that You'd bless us as we come to the precious Word of God. Lord, we believe every word of it on every page from front cover to back cover. We believe it's all inspired from heaven. And Lord, it's helpful for us and brings glory to Thee. I pray You'd bless us in this special hour and may our minds put aside those things that would distract us and seek from Your Word the help that is available for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So the essence of the story that covers all of chapter 9 is this. Jesus, walking along, sees this blind man And the blind man probably looked a lot like a beggar and probably had oftentimes been there to collect some money to help him go because he couldn't work a job and his needs had to be met somehow so he most likely begged for what he got. And so this is on the Sabbath day, and Jesus is traveling along in Jerusalem, and the disciples ask, as soon as he talks to the blind man, the disciples ask, well, Lord, who sinned? Was it this man or his parents? Assuming that somebody must have done something wrong, because this man's got problems. And Jesus corrects them. The blindness was not due to sin, but for a special purpose. His blindness was to reveal the glory of God in the works of Jesus. Jesus spits on the ground, makes clay, and anoints the man's eyes. Now I've got to be honest with you. If Jesus wanted to heal me somehow and spit on the ground and started making some mud, This blind man, he could sense something's going on. He might have wondered, what are you doing? He said, well, I'm going to mix up some spit and clay and I'm going to fix you. What? Spit and clay? What are you going to do with that? I'm going to put it on your eyes. Spit? Mud? Never mind. I'll just stay blind. No, we might be a little bit repelled, and it does sound a little gross, but anything the Lord does, He doeth all things well. And this might be a little bit of a test for your humility and mine to see if we're willing to say, well, this is a good thing. After all, what are you made out of? What did God do when He created you in the first place? When He created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He reached down and picked up a handful of mud and made us out of that. So we're already a little bit muddy to start with. And so, Jesus corrects these men and says, you know, he didn't sin. It's not his sin that caused this problem. It wasn't his parents' sin that caused this problem. I'm going to fix him. I'm going to mix up some spittle and clay and put it on his eyes. He puts it on the man's eyes and he said, now I want you to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. He sent him on a mission of obedience. The man obeys. Isn't that a good thing? When he obeyed, got his sight back, you know that's the first time he ever saw? Can you imagine what it would be like to be born blind? You wouldn't know what a tree looks like. You wouldn't know what a human looks like. You wouldn't know what a dog looks like. You wouldn't know what the landscape looks like. You wouldn't know anything about mountains or valleys or lakes. You wouldn't know anything about the beauty of flowers. Because you've always been blind. You have nothing to relate to. You don't know any of that stuff. And this man's been born blind. And now he goes down, he figures everything else in my life has failed. I might as well try this out. And so he goes down in obedience to Jesus to the pool of Siloam. And sure enough, he gets his sight. For the first time in his life, can you imagine what it might have been like when he washed his eyes and the mud came off and his eyes opened and he could see everything all around him? Saw people, buildings, streets, dirt. Saw his own self for the very first time. His healing leads him to a bold testimony. He begins to talk about what Jesus has done for him. Isn't it a good thing to hear somebody else tell what Jesus did for them? Isn't it a good thing for you and me, for us to tell people what Jesus did for us? What did he do for you? Well, if he saved your soul, aren't you glad that he took an old wicked sinner and cleansed you and made you whole again so that you can have heaven and not hell? Isn't that a great thing? He has a testimony now. And, you know, those Pharisees are always hanging around. And I said, man, what are you talking about? He said, well, this man made up some mud and put on my eyes and told me to come down here and wash. And I could see, and now I can see. I said, oh, something's not right. We know who that man is, and he didn't help you, and we know who you are. You're just another wicked sinner. You're not whole and righteous like we are. This is probably a made-up story anyway. And so, he refuses to deny Christ. They said, you need to just, you need to tell the truth. That man is a nobody. He's from the devil. And the man said, well, I don't know, I don't know who he is or where he came from, but this one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see. Can't deny that. Well, he denied, he refused to deny Christ, even under pressure. and threat. His story goes far beyond just being able to see though. His story illustrates the suffering that may illustrate God's grace and His glory in lives. Fanny Crosby was born blind and lived all her life that way, and yet she said that God had been so good to her in saving her soul, she didn't care. In fact, she preferred to just stay blind until she gets to heaven, and when her eyes open, the first thing she'll see is the face of Jesus. If I could go without my eyesight, just be blind, and go to heaven, I'd much prefer that than to be able to see clearly and go to hell. This blind man's obedience led to physical healing and a spiritual transformation. In meeting Jesus, the man who lived in darkness met the light of the world." Isn't that great? He met the light of the world. Jesus had already said on numerous occasions, I am the light of the world and here he proved it. Some of God's greatest works, and listen to this, some of God's greatest works begin in the shadows of suffering. This man had spent decades of being blind, having to beg, grovel for existence. This man had suffered many, many years and yet out of the shadows of his blindness came a revelation of God's glory. Was it worth it all? I submit to you that it was. This story isn't just about sight restored, it's about purpose revealed and glory displayed through the life that the world might dismiss. The world's busy today, all kinds of entertainment, people got a lot of things on their mind, doing a lot of different stuff, and most of the world's missing out on the lives of the world. You and I who are saved, we better rejoice in it every day. Let's look at three things about this story that I think will help us to see how God's glory can be displayed through a person's suffering. First of all, number one, let's talk about God's purpose in a prolonged affliction. In verses 1-3 we see this one statement stand out. It says that the works of God should be made manifest in him. It was not the blind man who is the important character of this story. As great as it is to regain his sight, the greatest story here is that Jesus, the great one, the maker of the universe, his glory is displayed. That stands out above anything that we could personally gain. I think a lot of times we feel like if we're not feeling emotionally good or we're not physically well or we're not financially well off, we feel like we're just not doing very good. But I'd just like for you to know that God has a purpose in affliction and that His glory, His glory is more important than what we endure or enjoy. There's a misguided assumption taking place here. The disciples assumed that this man must be suffering some kind of punishment. Do people ever do that to you? You're going through something and somebody said, like they did in the book of Job, they came to Job, he's going through some really terrible trials and his friends come to him and said, well, you've probably done something wrong. You probably sinned, even if you didn't know it, you did. With friends like that. Yeah, we got plenty of them, don't we? The disciples just assumed this. This was a superstition of that time that anybody that had any kind of a problem, they must have sinned somehow and caused that. Well, sin can cause problems because the Bible says, For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. But it doesn't mean that every time you have something bad in your life that there was a sin at the root of it. So they made a misguided assumption. Something was wrong. with his life. Jesus makes a spiritual correction. Now, listen closely at this. They first say, who did sin, this man or his parents? Well, he was born blind from his mother's womb. Did he sin in the womb? Come on, disciples, are you that dense? You think the man sinned in his mother's womb before he was born and therefore he's blind? These disciples are a little bit dumb sometimes, like you and me. Then they say, well, maybe it was his parents. Parents can make mistakes and be at fault in some things, but sometimes kids turn out differently than you intended for them to, and you try your best to train them. And I'm talking about training them, not just expecting them to pick up by osmosis the principles of the Bible. I'm talking about you train them. If you've done all you can to train them and something happens, they've got a will of their own. If they go bad in their adulthood, and you did everything right, it's not always the parents' fault. Well, Jesus corrects this. Now, in Jeremiah chapter 31 and 29 through 30, Jesus uses, well, he doesn't use it here, but he does in the scripture, in the book of Jeremiah. 31, 29 through 30, the Jews are in exile and they're saying, you know, God has really been too rough on us. I mean, it's not really our fault that this has befallen us, that we've suffered judgment. It's not really our fault. It was our father's fault. We live in such a society as that today that the children try to blame their parents for everything, you know. If you go to a psychiatrist or psychologist, depending on who they are and what they believe, you might get advice that, well, it's not really your fault, it was your parents' fault, the way they brought you up. Look, your parents may have made some mistakes, young people, but I can guarantee you one thing, when you get old enough to know better, it all falls on you. You're an adult, you know right from wrong, you don't have to keep living in the past and blaming someone else. Everybody said? Yeah, there. In Jeremiah 31, the Jews said, the fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge. So in other words, they're saying it's our forefather's fault that we're in captivity. But the Bible also says everyone shall die in his own iniquity. In other words, Individually, if I as an individual or you as an individual or anybody as an individual dies and goes to hell, you can't blame it on somebody else. It wasn't that we were predestined to go to hell because of something maybe in God's early planning or it wasn't something in your forefather's behavior. sooner or later we're responsible for our own sins and we'll die for our own sins, not for the sins of others. Well, you say, what about Exodus chapter 20 and verse number 5, where God says, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. He's not talking about individual responsibility there, he's talking about a generational problem. You see, if a generation neglects God, and the key phrase there is those that hate God, those that hate Him. If they pass that on down from generation to generation, then the generation may go downhill fast, and we see that in the world right now, and always have. But each individual is ultimately responsible. The Bible says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Not that those around you made you die or go to hell. So Jesus corrects this and the man's blindness was not due to his sin or his parents' sin but it was for the glory of God. There's a divine appointment here. The man's entire life of blindness was designed to showcase Christ. His whole life. Do you know that something happens in your life? You may say, yeah, but man, it's not just a bad day I've had. It's not just a bad week. It just seems like there's been years of bad things happening to me. I hadn't got a chance. Well, hang on. You might be like this blind man here. Jesus said His whole life. His whole life, not just a few days, but his whole life was that way in order for him to show glory to Christ. God doesn't think like we do. You know that scripture, right? Where God said, my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts, my ways higher than your ways. We can't out-think God. No use to try to figure it out. You can't out-think God. He may have a plan for your life to show glory to God through your suffering. Joni Eareckson Todda was paralyzed at the age of 17. At 17! That's pretty young, isn't it? She had her whole life in front of her. She got her neck broken in a diving accident and she was paralyzed from here down. You know what she did? She didn't get bitter and say, I didn't deserve this. I was a saved person. He shouldn't have done this to me. This is all God's fault. No, she never said that. You know what she did? She decided she was going to live for God because she knew He loved her. And she understood that her life might be to showcase the glory of Christ. So she got a paintbrush and learned how to paint paintings with a brush in her mouth. Think that'd be difficult? I can't paint a painting with my hands. Some of you can't paint a baseboard with your hands. I've seen your work. She has written dozens of books, led worldwide ministries to disabled people. She's made her life count for Christ, and many have come to Christ because of her. So what happened, preacher? Well, God had a plan for her and it did not include being a professional swimmer all of her life. It included being paralyzed and not being able to move her hands or feet or body and only have from here up to work with. And God took from here up and from here down and made her life a testimony to the grace of God and the glory of His name. That's what God can do. And so don't tell me that your life is more destroyed, more challenged than hers. If He can use her, He can use you. Ron Hamilton. We sing Ron Hamilton songs here every once in a while. Ron Hamilton was a godly music minister. He lost his eye to cancer. You know what he didn't do? He didn't curse God and say, well, that's it, I'm not serving the Lord anymore. He went on to be a great music minister, wrote a lot of music, conducted Patch the Pirate for kids and he wore a patch over his eye as he ministered to kids and he became Patch the Pirate. and thousands have come to Christ and learned how to live for the Lord and how to have a testimony for the Lord and how to see grace and humility out of Ron Hamilton. He's done a lot of stuff and produced a lot of joy and spiritual fruit but he didn't lay down and turn into a victim and quit. Sometimes God lets you sit in the waiting room of suffering till he brings you to the place where he can shine his glory through your life. It might be physical ailments, it might be emotional ailments. William Cowper was given to fits of insanity and yet he wrote some of the greatest poems and hymns and we still sing some of those today. even with emotional disturbances, even being institutionalized for insanity, when he would come out and friends would help him get back on track, he'd write some more hymns. There's nothing in this life that can bar you from serving God and living for Him and showing the glory of the Lord Jesus through your life and through your circumstances. Seeing God's purpose is not just enough, though. God's purpose may be that in your life. But look at, in this same passage of scripture, chapter 9, the price of following the light. This blind man met the light, he saw the light. Thank God he saw the light, but look at the price that was included. Look at verse number 21, he says, when he's being questioned about his healing, he said, but by what means he seeth now, or the parents were, but by what means he seeth now, we know not, or who hath opened his eyes, we know not, he is of age, ask him, he shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents, look at this fear that's involved here. See, the Pharisees are questioning his parents saying, look, we want to know what this deal about Jesus healing your son is. They said, well, we don't know. We don't know anything about him. Just ask him. And they had a fear. Look at what their fear was. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue." Oh, they didn't want to go against those Pharisees. They cared about what those Pharisees thought. They cared about that synagogue. Man, if you put out a synagogue, it was a bad deal. They weren't going to risk that. So they just kind of went neutral. You ever do that? Instead of standing up for the Lord, you just kind of go neutral? Maybe yes, maybe no, I don't know. It's called compromise. Hello? Compromise. Now verse 34, the Pharisees said this to the man that was healed. They said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins. Dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. You know what they did? They said, look, if you're not going to deny this man Jesus, if you're not going to deny him, you're out, buddy. You're never getting back in this synagogue again. You're out of the family. You're out of the synagogue. Nothing is going to work for you anymore. If you get food, you'll be lucky to survive. Pharisee said, you don't go against us. If you're going to be in this crowd, you're going to have to deny Jesus. There's a lot of crowds today that you can't be a part of if you stand up for the Lord Jesus. I'm talking about really standing up for Him. Fear divides families. This kind of fear put people out of the synagogue in those days. Man, that was a huge deal. That was social death. Social death to get put out of the synagogue. Boldness brings rejection. The healed man is unshaken in his testimony of faith towards Christ and he stands toe-to-toe with the religious leaders and refuses to back down. Can you do that? Can you stand up against those who oppose you because you're a Christian? The man believes, worships, he's fully sighted. Jesus finds him after he's been to the Pool of Siloam. Jesus finds out the Pharisees are giving him a rough time. Jesus goes and finds him privately. And the former blind man now says, I still don't really know who you are. The Lord asked him, do you believe on the Lord? He said, I don't know who is the Lord. Who is the Lord anyway? So at that point he didn't really know. All he knew is he'd been healed. So you can enjoy healing, you can enjoy miracles, you can enjoy a lot of positive things in life, and you can attribute all that to God and still not be saved. Being saved is when you put your faith in Jesus. When Jesus tells him he needs to trust in the Lord, he does. He places his faith in him. But being cast out of that synagogue was a fearful thing. Alfred Edersheim, who wrote about customs of the times, biblical times, he describes what excommunication meant in ancient Judaism. He says, you were treated like a leper. You couldn't teach or be taught or attend gatherings. You were denied social interaction, even a normal funeral. This was the price the man was willing to pay just to speak the truth about Jesus. Would we be so bold? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where somebody questions you about your faith and you're kind of, well, I'm not I believe some things about the Bible, but I just don't believe everything. I'm not a nut. I'm not a Bible-thumper. Try to kind of defend yourself. You want to kind of be a chameleon with the crowd that doesn't believe. You might be like the story Adrian Rogers told once about the young man. He's fresh out of seminary. He's a seminary graduate, and he's on the plane going to a preacher's conference, and he's nervous. Boy, he's really anxious. but excited and he really became nervous when he heard there was a famous celebrity on board the flight and sure enough he got seated right beside that celebrity, a rich man. I mean, this rich man, he had on a Rolex watch, you know, this was before they made Apple watches, the Cadillac of all watches. And so he's got on this expensive Rolex that cost thousands, and probably cost more than the car that preacher owned. And so they're sitting there, and the man's reading the Wall Street Journal, and he's dressed real nice. And so trying to make a conversation, the businessman asked the preacher, he said, so what do you do? He said, he's still a little bit nervous, you know, he's a Christian, he's a preacher, but he's kind of nervous about being next to this guy, and he says, well, I'm in public relations. Well, the businessman pressed him a little further. He said, really, what kind of public relations? And the young preacher said, well, eternal. Eternal. Eternal. What does that mean? Well, I work for the largest organization on earth, and we're global, involved in education, relief work, child care, medicine, construction, prison reform, and long-term retirement planning. And the rich man said, Oh, really? He said, What company is that? And the preacher kind of cleared his throat, and he said, I'm a Baptist preacher. That boy was more nervous than a long-tail Tomcat in a room full of rocking chairs trying to get along with the rich man. And he almost denied his faith. Thank goodness he didn't. But you don't have to be ashamed of your faith. Did you hear me? You don't have to be ashamed of your faith. If you are a child of the king, you don't have to be ashamed of that. If you are a lost sinner headed for hell and now you're in a different direction going to heaven, you don't have to be ashamed of that. If you happen to believe this book, you don't have to be ashamed of that because this book is the truth. If you're a Christian who goes to church, you don't have to be ashamed of going to church. Just do it because that's what Christ wants you to do. Today's Christian may not face getting kicked out of the synagogue, but in that day, he could be removed from a friend group. Today, you might lose out on opportunities for jobs. You might even be mocked online. Anybody ever get mocked online for your faith? I tell you, this online business, the religious wars are always on. It seems like they're hotter right now than they've ever been. If you belong to this group, you can't belong to that group. They won't have you. And if you go to that camp, then that camp over there don't want you. And so you've got to be careful which camp you belong to, and you've got to be careful about which name you go by. And if you go to that conference or that conference, boy, you may be in trouble with your friends and buddies, and you may get kicked out. I decided a long time ago, at the very first, when I first got saved, I became an independent Baptist. But even in independent, I emphasize that word independent, Independent Baptists were not so independent. They had their camps, and they had their conferences, and they had their colleges, and they had their churches. And if you belonged to one as a preacher, you weren't thought very highly of in another group. And I used to go along with that because I thought that's the way it was. And then later on I learned out, if I'm independent, I don't have to belong to any of them. I am Baptist by faith and conviction because I believe that's the closest to the Bible that there can be. I'm a Baptist by faith and what I believe is taught in the scriptures, but I don't have to belong to this group. I'll be good to those people. I'll try to get along with those people. I'll try to fellowship with those people, and I'll try to fellowship with these people. But if they don't like me over here because of them over there, I don't have to give allegiance to either one. I'll always be independent. Sometimes in our modern day, you know, sometimes people think, well, preachers especially, I might as well go back into the Southern Baptist Convention or into this convention or that denomination and maybe they'll like me better over there. After all, they seem to be getting more money in bigger crowds. Well, I'm just going to be independent. I didn't get into this preaching business for the money. I didn't get into this business for a popularity contest. Nobody likes me anyway. My wife doesn't even like me. No, she loves me. Thank goodness for a good wife. We're not that independent. but I'm not going to be kowtowed into being subservient to some other group. And you've got all these wars going on on the internet and this group is mad at that group over there and they want you to side with them and if you don't side with them, you're a dirty compromiser because you must be part of that group over there. Well, no, I never said I was part of that group over there. I'm not part of their group and I'm not part of your group. I'm just here. I'll just be part of the group of Jesus, alright? I don't think we need to give allegiance to worldly organizations but allegiance to the scripture so we can bring glory to God, not glory to some organization. There, I said it. Jesus said, blessed are ye when men shall revile you for my sake, not because of their opinions. I don't have to pick sides. I can say, you guys just fight it out. You guys fight it out. Let me give you the last thing. The faith that obeys the unusual. In verses 6 and 7, it says, That was an unlikely cure, don't you think? If you had a problem, would you let me mix up some spit and dirt and put in your eyes? Well, I'm not Jesus, so I don't blame you if you wouldn't. But if the Lord wanted you to, I think you'd be wise to let Him do it. It's an unlikely cure. I mean, how ridiculous can you be? Mix up mud, give me my vision back. How crazy is this? Well, if Jesus said, do it, you won't be crazy, you'll be wise. It was an act of faith. The blind man had never seen Jesus, never heard His voice before, but he went to Siloam and washed in the pool and he got his sight. Jesus may require you to do something unusual. I'm not talking about nutty. You know, sometimes Christians can do things just to be weird. Some of you are weird enough already, don't try to be anymore. Salome means sent. Jesus sent him. He was sent and he went. How about that? Poet, healing came not from the mud but from obedience to the Lord. So how do we apply this? Well, what if the next breakthrough in your life comes from God wanting you to do something unusual, maybe something you're not used to doing? Let's talk about something unscriptural. God never instructs you or leads you to do something that's unscriptural. If it violates this, it's just flat wrong. What we're talking about when it comes to opinions, customs, traditions, God may lead you to do something unusual. It might not make sense or it might not appeal to your emotions, to your feels. I don't think getting mud smeared in your eyes would really make you all that emotionally elated. I'm not so excited about getting mud in my eyes. But God may have us do something that's not really something we want to do, like witnessing to somebody. Amens are loud in here. When you're supposed to tell somebody about Jesus, man, you've been given the perfect opportunity, you have the knowledge of the scripture, and you have somebody who is ready to hear. Do we shrug it off? Because that's unsavory. They might not like me if I tell them about Jesus. Well, those people didn't like this blind man much either because of his testimony for Christ. you'd be wise to go ahead and witness to them. I'm not talking about button-holing somebody and twisting their arm and forcing a prayer out of them. That never works. But you can tell them about what the Lord did on the cross of Calvary to forgive their sins. Then the choice is theirs. You can't make them get saved, but you can give them the story. That's all He wants out of us. Obedience to God may not seem glorious sometimes. It may seem fearful. and it may seem unsavory. For instance, listen to this, sometimes taking care of elderly parents is not what a younger person wanted to do. They could have had other plans. And it can even seem undesirable or even humiliating, embarrassing to take care of elderly parents who have gone on beyond being able to take care of themselves. Well, older people have memory problems. They'll tell the same story two or three times. Well, instead of rebuking them, I'm not thinking that does a lot of good. They need somebody to love them and take care of them. Sometimes elderly parents have time-consuming needs. Time-consuming. I mean, you've got to give up some things if you're going to take care of them. It can be a weariness to adult children who can lose their patience taking care of elderly parents. Or it can bring glory to Christ because you believed that He wanted you to. Exodus chapter 20 verse number 12, you know the fifth commandment, honor thy father and thy mother. That means adults too, this is not just a thing that little kids are supposed to do. Hello? Hello? Yeah, just because they got old doesn't mean suddenly you don't honor them anymore. Honor thy father and mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This foundational commandment implies a lifelong commitment. Like when mother told her kid, her kid was giving her a rough time, she said, look son, I brought you into this world and I can take you out. I'm not saying we need to go that far, but I'm saying there ought to be respect and honor and dignity given to those parents. Proverbs 23, 22 says, hearken unto thy father that begat thee and despise not thy mother when she is old. This verse calls for attentiveness. respect, especially in old age when older people become vulnerable. We don't hear preaching about that very much. No, but we ought to. Matthew 15, 4 through 6, Jesus really got on to those Pharisees hard because instead of taking care of their elderly parents, they had They say, well, I've already committed this financial bit here to the Lord, you know, for a commitment. It is Corbin, they said, and so we can't afford to take care of the parents. They'll just have to take care of themselves. I'm not saying it's not a commitment. I'm not saying it's not expensive. I'm not saying it's not time-consuming. I am saying that caring for them will bring honor and glory to Christ who said that we ought to honor father and mother. Ms. Velma Sutton I visited yesterday. I see her quite often. Her and her husband used to come to church here and sit right over here in this section. They were both faithful, served the Lord for decades and decades. He was a preacher. He went home to be with the Lord a few years ago. She came to church for a while and soon after she fell into ill health. Now she's not able to get out of the house hardly ever. Maybe to go to the doctor or something. She's in the bed. night and day. But she has loving children who see to it that she's cared for. And while they're at work, and I'm talking about adult children, her daughter works in a Christian school, continues her work, but she hires caretakers to be there with Miss Velma during the daytime. And if she ever has to be gone at night, the daughter's still faithful to church, but she hires somebody to see after her mother while she's gone. and see after her needs. I admire a family that takes care of their elderly folks like that. We had a lady in our church from Pennsylvania a few years ago and she joined our church and I'd go and visit her and her husband at home and he began to develop dementia and when I'd visit, sometimes he'd be a little gruff with me because I knew he's his mental capabilities were diminishing and so I didn't get mad at him but he would be a little gruff with me but she was still faithful, sweet spirit, she'd come to church. Well he got so bad he'd wander off from the house and she'd have to go track him down. He came up missing one day, and they couldn't find him for a whole day. He ended up in Salem, Arkansas, and a state trooper found him just meandering around and had a license plate that he knew didn't belong there. And so he stopped him, and not to give him a ticket, but just to see what the problem was. And after talking with that man a few minutes, that trooper realized, this man has probably run away from home and has dementia. And so he made some phone calls and found out where he belonged and he got transported back. I mean, that was a lot of trouble for her to go through, but she kept him at home and saw after him as long as she could. He finally passed away and I thought, you know, there's a lot of times when that must have been awfully trying for her. It must have been tough. And sometimes people do get so bad that you can't take care of them anymore and you need medical assistance. And that can certainly happen. but I admire people who take care of their elderly family members. Robert was a deacon in a small town church down in Georgia and he was a grown man, he had grown children of his own and he had a business that was growing and he was finally easing into a season of comfort And that's when the call came that his mother had early stage dementia and she could no longer live alone. Her behavior had become somewhat erratic. I even found her one day down the streets just standing there in the rain and had to bring her in. Robert had three siblings and they all loved their mother. None of them wanted to take her in. And it was kind of understood that Robert was the spiritual one. Unspoken, of course, but they kind of figured Robert's the one that can take care of her because he's the church-going guy. And so he did take her in. He brought her into his own home. It was not peaceful or a sentimental arrangement. She confused him with her husband and she called his wife, that other woman, and there was friction. It wasn't easy. She left the range on and almost caught the house on fire. He had to take the knobs off all the appliances. Life was not easy, but he made up his mind, quiet decision, he would honor his mother, not just her memory, but honor her with his sacrifice. Every Sunday he brought her to church and he'd sit with her and he'd try to keep her still and sometimes he'd have to take her out and change her. Sometimes he'd bring her back and she'd begin to mutter so loudly that he'd have to take her out again, just like a small child. By the way, adult children. There was a time when your mother and your father changed your dirty diapers. There was a time when they fed you. Well, he sought after her as best he could. He fed her and changed her. He'd gently take her out of the service when she was causing any kind of a disturbance. He'd take her out. People noticed that. He dealt with her not with anger, not with bitterness, but with calm, patience, dignity, without bitterness. One day a young man in that church came to him, pulled him aside, with tears in his eyes. He said, I've been seeing how you take care of your mother. And he said, I want you to know I admire you for that. I'm afraid I haven't been taking good care of my mother. And that young man's life changed after seeing Robert's testimony. Robert didn't preach a sermon, he didn't teach a class, but he dealt with a messy daily obedience that brought glory to God. See, that's what we're talking about. We're talking about bringing glory to God. This blind man, his life among the others around there, they might have thought, this is a nobody. He can't do anything for anybody. But he did do something for somebody. He brought glory to the Lord Jesus through his life and through his suffering. Paul and Dee over here, they moved here. I thought they moved here to hear my great preaching but actually they moved here because her parents were elderly and they kept them both as long as they could until they passed on to glory and there's others here that's done the same thing and I admire you for taking care of those people. We're talking about bringing glory to God. So our text today just shows that Through the tough times, there's an opportunity to bring glory to God. Instead of self-satisfaction, instead of self-gratification, instead of pleasing self, sacrificing to bring glory to God. Do you know your life, the greatest thing that you can do in life? The greatest thing is to bring glory to God. Oh, I'm all for winning all the people to Christ that you can. I'm all for going to church faithfully and reading your Bible. I'm all for teaching classes and preaching sermons. I'm for all of that. But bringing glory to God stands above it all. We were created to bring glory to Him. Tim Lee. You may have heard of him. Had his legs blown off in Vietnam. Back in those days, Tim and I are about the same age. In fact, I taught his kids at Sunday school in Oklahoma City. Meanest kids I ever saw. Taught fifth grade class and man, you had to do everything under the sun to keep their attention. But I figure teaching little kids nowadays is a lot easier, don't you? Tim Lee was born into a preacher's home in 1950. But he ran from God as a teenager. I mean, he was running from God. He said he was sick and tired of his parents telling him what to do. So he joined the Marines. Well, he went to Vietnam, got his legs blown off when he stepped on a land mine. And that explosion didn't destroy Tim. It redirected his life. He had revival laying on that battlefield. And he said to God, laying there bleeding, almost dying, he told God, I'll do whatever you want me to do. So when he got healed up, spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He's still living. But he became a great evangelist, preaching to millions of people. He gives his testimony often, and every time he preaches, I suppose. And from the wheelchair, he says, if I can give my legs for my country, you can give your life to Jesus. David Ring, we went up to hear, I'd seen David Ring on YouTube or something years and years ago, saw him give his testimony. We went up to Southside there by Batesville a few years ago to hear him in person. And he had cerebral palsy from birth. and slurs his words, can't control his movements very well. Kids made fun of him when he was little, but when he got saved there was a fire in his soul. And he preaches with authority and with conviction because it's his testimony. and he doesn't want people to feel sorry for him what he wants to do is tell his testimony because he can say what happened to me didn't put me out of business for God and so whatever happened to you doesn't have to put you out of business for God either and he'll often say this he'll say my problem and he says this with slurred speech he's preached to millions he says with a slurred speech my problem is cerebral palsy What's yours? You know what he's saying? If I can do something for God and give my testimony and bring glory to Jesus Christ with my testimony, what's your problem that you can't? You know what this blind man in chapter 9 of our text, it was a blind man saying, go ahead Lord and put the mud on my eyes. I'm going to be better off with you spitting in the dirt and making some mud for my eyes than I will be staying blind the rest of my life. Go ahead and do it. I'll humble myself. I'll make the decision. I'll go down to the pool and wash in Siloam. The blind man's life was not a tragedy, it was a testimony. He'd spend his whole life in darkness just in order to come to the day. when he would meet the light, Jesus Christ, and his life would never be the same. I love what he said. When they were questioning him, they said, well, do you really believe this guy you say that healed you? Do you really believe all that? What is your theological position on this? They were asking him some tough questions. He said, I'm no theologian. All I know is, whereas I was blind, Now I see. Hey, your testimony is yours and nobody can trash it if it's for Jesus Christ. Are you in a season of suffering now? Trust God. He may be preparing you for another stage of journey. Are you afraid to stand out for Christ? Remember, there may be a cost for standing up boldly for the Lord Jesus Christ. You might not fit into every group. They may not want you if you stand for Christ but you'll be better off standing for him alone than you will in the crowd that accepts you and thinks you're popular. Are you afraid to stand for Christ? Are you hesitating to obey something that he's instructed you to do? Have you procrastinated about salvation? The one thing He wants to do before you can bring Him glory, He wants you to be saved. I'm talking to people online as well. If you've never been saved, I want you to know it honors and glorifies Christ that His death was not in vain when you place your faith in what He did for you on the cross. You see, every person alive was born a sinner. and nobody can just change and turn over a new leaf and get to heaven. Nobody can just say, well, I'll join a church or get in the baptistry or I'll do this or I'll do that and maybe I'll get to heaven. No, there's one thing that will get you to heaven. Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sins you can never pay for. He loved you enough that He allowed Himself to be nailed to that cross. He voluntarily let His blood drip to the ground to pay for your sins and mine. And before you can do anything else for Him, you must come to Him in faith. Salvation is believing that He died for you and He rose again for you. Nothing you can do to earn your own salvation, that would bring glory to you, but He won't share His glory. If you're going to be saved, you must say, I'm a rotten sinner and Jesus, I believe you died for me and I'm trusting you as my Savior. That's how to be saved. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you'd bless the invitation time.