The One Thing I Know

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The One Thing I Know. He will be in John 9.

Your pain has a purpose and even though you cannot see it right now the pain of your past and the pain of difficulties in your life and the losses that you’ve experienced God wants you to remember this that your mess is a message.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders and we’re welcome you to Hope Worth Having. Excited that you can be with us today and looking forward to what the Lord has for us as we learn the scriptures. Today we’re going to be in the Gospel of John and we’re going to be in chapter 9 and we’re going to be talking about the one thing I know and so we’re going to continue to look into the Word of God this morning and just learn and grow.

So I want you to go to John chapter 9 and we’re going to cover verse 19 through 25. We come to John chapter 9 simply I’ve entitled it one thing I know we have been studying this chapter and Jesus healed a blind man.

Jesus healed this blind man and when Jesus began his ministry people formed various opinions about him. Some believed that he was a prophet and others believed that he was an imposter but thankfully there were many who believed in Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of John is the gospel of belief it is the evangelistic gospel it is what you and I are called to give to our friends and family if they wrestle with is Christ really really the Savior is he really the Messiah.

There are seven major signs that reveal the identity of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John. We’ve already covered six of those signs first we covered changing the water into wine and then you remember that in chapter 4 the healing of the government officials son and certainly in chapter 5 we remember that great time which Jesus healed a lame man right there on the Sabbath in the synagogue of course we remember the thousands that Jesus fed in chapter 6 and then later on in the chapter he would walk on the water and come to his disciples and then we come to the sixth miracle if you will is the healing of the blind man John sprinkles these signs throughout the gospel so that we would understand who Jesus Christ is when we get to chapter 11 the greatest of all miracles is the raising of Lazarus from the dead and the whole point of all the miracles is to validate the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to validate Jesus truly is the Messiah because these miracles were unique And they were different from any miracles that people had seen up to this time.

And Jesus, as He performed these miracles, they were full, they were whole, and they were life -transforming. And when we come to chapter 9, we get to see the reaction, the reaction of people, the religious elite, if you will, the religious leaders, to this grand miracle by Jesus Christ in healing this blind man.

And the whole point is that they are challenging the identity and the authority of Christ. And this is where we find ourselves, that we as witnesses and followers of Jesus Christ, we live in a world that is challenging who is Jesus, they are challenging His authority, they are challenging His identity, and we have a responsibility to be great witnesses for Jesus Christ.

And if you get nothing today, at least walk away with the theme of my message. It is simply this, you do not have to be a famous evangelist or great theologian to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.

You do not have to be a world -class missionary to help people find true salvation in Jesus Christ. And so today we’re going to look at a man who has been touched literally by the hand of God, and God has brought him sight.

But immediately upon being healed, the Jewish leaders begin an interrogation, and they interrogate his life trying to undercut what has really happened. And what I want you to note is how this man faithfully witnesses for Jesus Christ.

And I want you to understand that this man was not a Bible college graduate, he was just a simple man. who had been transformed by the life of Jesus Christ and everywhere that he went, he was telling people about Jesus.

So pick up with me in verse 19 of John chapter nine. And the Bible says that they asked them saying, is this your son? Meaning they were talking to his parents, who you say was born blind. How then does he now see?

His parents answered them and said, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind. Verse 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. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was Christ or Messiah, he would be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore, his parents said, he is of age, ask him. Verse 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 referring to Christ and the blind man 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.

So let’s talk about this witness of this blind man. First, I want you to notice his unanswerable argument. They could not undercut his defense of his true faith in what God had done in his life. We back up to verse 15.

The Bible says the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight and he said to them, he put clay on my eyes and I washed and I see. Verse 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. Look at verse 32, since the world began, it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. He gave an unanswerable argument and it was simply this, look at what God did to me.

Look what this man has done to me. He has changed my life. He has opened my blind eyes. His parents were trying to excuse themselves from the pressure of having the answer for their son. They were afraid of the Jewish elders because the Jewish elders had the responsibility and the authority that they could excommunicate anyone out of the synagogue.

And of course, they were on a mission to make sure that no one believed in Jesus Christ, that no one would trust him for eternal life. And so then, they brought him in twice. And every time that he came, he just kept saying, look, the one thing I know is that I was blind and now I see.

The one thing I know is that God changed my life in essence. He is saying the Pharisees said give glory to God It was not that they desired glory to God But this was a Hebrew idiom that was given in a matter of trying to say confess your sin come clean You know that this is all a trick.

You know that you were never blind I want you to come clean and be honest with us and so the Jews would always use that phrase give glory to God meaning come clean and confess your lies to us and This man when he responded he truly knew What God had done for him?

And what I want you to know is that the one irrefutable argument of Christianity is the lives that have been changed When you look not just across our congregation and you look across our Community and you look across our nation and you look across the world who can argue?

with a life that was headed down a path of sin and a path of brokenness and a path of great fear and a path of destruction, how that God would intervene in a life and he would pluck that person out of darkness and place them into light, that he would take them out of their spiritual blindness and that he would bring new spiritual sight to their life.

Who can explain that but only Jesus Christ? Well, that’s what I want you to know, is that it’s you who are out there sharing Christ with others that you don’t have to have all the answers. You just need to know one thing, that God changed your life, that he saved your soul and that he took you from blindness to sight, he took you from darkness to light, he took you from a path of destruction to a path of truth and holiness and happiness in Christ.

Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can change a life, even mankind, as they try to deal with people with addictions and they use different methods and behavior modifications to try to help someone change who they are.

The bottom line is they’re only about 60% right or good at it. But Jesus is 100% and when you come to Jesus Christ, he’s not asking you for you to change your outside, he’s asking you for you to change your inside first and then as you change your inside, he changes you on the outside and you become a new person in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things pass away and behold, all things become what? New, my friends. They become new, it’s unanswerable, it’s a convincing argument and what you need to remember is that as you’re out there sharing Christ, that he has given you an irrefutable argument.

It is your life -changing experience with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 19 and 20, for the wisdom of this world is folly with God. It is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness, and again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile.

This man spoke only what he knew, and in what he knew is that he could see now. What I don’t want you to do is I don’t want you to be like the parents. They were afraid to say anything because they didn’t want to be kicked out of the synagogue.

The fear of man paralyzed them from proclaiming what God had done in their life of their son. How sad that is, that parents would shut down and say, I don’t wanna say anything because I’m afraid what they might do to me, listen to me, friends, it is the fear of man.

It is the desire to please others that will put a great limitation on your witness for God. And that you need to understand that as you and I live in the fear of man, that it is a snare, it is a trap, and it will limit how God can use your life.

And you need to come to a point in your life where you don’t live to please others, and that you don’t live to please mankind, and to keep everybody happy, because when you try to keep everybody happy, guess who’s unhappy?

You, that’s right. But I want you to know this, every day, I want you to live your life to please Jesus. And so when people say, what happened to your life, you need to tell them what Jesus did. Here’s what I want to challenge, every grandparent and every parent, tell your children and your children’s children how you came to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because there’s nothing more powerful in the life of your children and your children’s children than to know how God changed the direction of your family by bringing you to true salvation in Jesus Christ.

And so I want to encourage you to do that if your children don’t know your testimony, if your grandchildren don’t know your testimony, the only person’s fault it is is you. And I know that you say, well, everybody’s hungry at Thanksgiving, no, let me tell you what God did in my life.

And I don’t want my family to ever forget what he has done for me and how he has transformed. Listen, this is what happens, grandparents and parents. Listen, our first generation Christians, we’re so passionate, we’re so excited for Jesus Christ because he just amazingly transformed our life, plucked us out of darkness, brought us into life and it’s just overwhelming to us.

And we just cannot understand why everybody doesn’t love Jesus as much as we do. But then there’s a second generation, they grow up with it. It’s all they know. They know the church, they know the lingo, but they don’t understand the contrast.

They don’t understand from whence they came. And then there’s a third generation. And what I don’t want to happen in my family is I don’t want there to ever to be a generation that grows up in my family that does not know Jesus Christ.

And so I’m gonna use the most powerful testimony, even though I can articulate some of the great apologetic truths. And I can make the greatest defense for Jesus Christ. What is most powerful is your personal testimony.

The second thing I want you to see is his unimpeachable knowledge. His knowledge was limited to one thing. It was certain, it was undeniable. Yes, there are gonna be many who refuse to believe. And when we read this text, we see.

how there are those who willfully refuse to believe in Jesus Christ. And this is manifested in their unwillingness to believe in the evidence. And this is what happened, is that because Jesus violated their traditions, because Jesus violated the way they did their religion, they closed the door to Him.

That’s why I wanna tell you, grandparents, you don’t get mad at these young people, because God is raising up new preachers and new singers and new instrumentalists, and He is using them to bring worship and praise.

And some of you get upset because they’re not singing the songs you used to sing, but God already gave them a new song, just like He gave you a new song. And you’re gonna turn these kids off because they don’t do it your way.

They don’t follow your traditions. They don’t follow your way of doing church or this or that. And what I wanna challenge you is this, is first, get to the heart of your children and grandchildren, and recognize that Jesus Christ, He upset the apple cart when He came.

When Jesus came, He had the religious crowd all upset, He’s healing people on the Sabbath day. He’s not following protocol. He’s not doing the way we’ve always done it. And you know the seven last words of a dying church, we’ve never done it that way before.

Yeah? What you need to do is say, I rejoice that my children and grandchildren are worshiping God. Oh, they’re on the drums. They’re on the drums. They’re on the guitar. But they’re worshiping God, amen?

I’m just glad they’re not out in the bar worshiping the world and Satan, yes? And so I don’t always like all the music, but I’m just glad for the hearts for God. I’m glad for the passion for Jesus Christ.

I’m glad for the commitment. And it’s okay if things need to be shook up and if things need to be changed so we can be more effective and efficient for the cause of Jesus Christ. I’m not going to get stuck in the rut like these Jewish people and argue against Christ because He’s not doing it the way I’ve always done it.

They rejected Christ. They refused to accept this man’s testimony. They were self -centered. They were focused on what they want. They wanted to keep control. They wanted to keep power. They wanted to keep influence.

And as long as it was done their way then everybody had to work it under their influence and their power. But Jesus came. and said, I want you to give back to loving God and loving people. Do you understand that every once in a while what Jesus will do is that he will mess all the traditions we have, and he will mess all the religion we have up.

He’ll mess it up, why? Because he wants to know why you do what you do, and he wants to make sure that when people are coming to Christ that they’re not just following liturgy, they’re not just following a ritual, they’re not just following a religion, but they’re having a true authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, and they love him with all their hearts, amen?

Jesus told the man who was demon possessed back in Luke chapter eight, here’s what he told him in Luke chapter eight verse 39, return to thine own house and show how great things God has done unto thee.

And he went his way, and he published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. When is the last time that you were okay with just bursting out with telling everybody and anybody about what great things God has done for you?

It is a compelling testimony. And you must begin to think through that, and I’m challenging you to move forward in your witness for God. The third and final points, and I know you’re very happy about that, is his unsolicited testimony.

Immediately upon being healed, he began to publicly declare what had happened to him, and I just find that interesting, he didn’t go to any evangelism classes, he didn’t get to any Bible certificates, he didn’t get to seminary, but he just started telling people about Jesus Christ, and he wasn’t afraid of people.

He wasn’t afraid to tell others about Christ. Paul the Apostle said that if I fear man, that I am not a true servant of God. And I’m challenging you to be a true servant of God. And I want to encourage you that no matter where you’re at in your faith, a new believer or someone who’s been saved few years and you’re just kind of growing little by little and others that have been saved for many years and you’re teaching others now,

I don’t want you to lose the passion of just spontaneously telling people about Jesus Christ and what he has done for you in your life. Now look, look at this man. He is going through a process of growth.

In verse 10, the Bible says of chapter nine, therefore they said unto him, how will your eyes open? He answered and said, a man, a man called Jesus, made clay and anointed my eyes. Then I want you to jump down in verse 17.

Now he’s grown, they said to the blind man again, what do you say about him because he opened your eyes? He said, he’s a prophet, he’s growing, he’s growing. Now, get down to 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.

This man’s in trouble now and that’s why they said, go tell him, go tell him. The Jews said, no, he’s a sinner in verse 24. He said in verse 25, whether he’s a sinner or not, I do not know, one thing I know that though I was blind, now I see.

Jump down to verse 33. This is what he’s telling the great theologians, this is what he’s telling the Jewish religious leaders, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing. Jump down to verse 35.

Jesus heard that he cast him out and when he had found him, meaning he was cast out of the synagogue, he said, do you believe in the son of God? And the blind man answered and said, who is he? Lord, that I might believe in him.

And Jesus said to him, you have both seen him and it is he who is talking with you. Then he said, Lord, I believe and worshiped him. Friends, what great growth in his life and we should all be lifelong learners and growing more and more about our salvation and learning more and more about what God has done for us and understanding who our savior is and his identity and his authority in our life and our worship of him should grow deeper.

and sweeter all the time, as this man did. But I want you to remember something. He did not stop witnessing just because he did not understand everything about Jesus. And some of you are new believers and new followers of Christ, and you don’t understand, and you’re afraid you might give the wrong answer.

There can’t be any better answer than your own personal testimony in Jesus Christ. Nothing’s better. And here’s what I want you to get. I want you to back up, and I’m almost done. I just want you to hang in there with me.

Remember the disciples asked a question in verse two? His disciples asked him in saying, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

You are the manifestation. of the works of God. You are the trophy of His grace. You are the monument of His mercy. And you, my friends, as you are out there testifying and witnessing on His behalf, you are letting everyone know how great our God is.

This man had been marginalized at birth. He had been ostracized his whole life because he was not like the rest of the crowd in the sense that he was born blind and he was a beggar and he was in need of everybody to help him.

He was a man in great suffering, but one day Jesus sovereignly stopped and he intervened in this man’s life and he brought sight to this man, not only physically, but he brought spiritual sight to him and that spiritual sight grew and that spiritual sight developed and he just became a great witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet, some of you have been saved for long times. You haven’t given out a track. You haven’t set a word for Jesus in a long time. You haven’t invited anybody to church. You don’t invite anybody to Bible study.

You’ve just gone mute for God because you’re just happy that you’re saved. Listen to me. God is teaching us that he can be glorified even in our suffering and that your suffering is the platform God wants to use to bring glory to him and that the works of God might be manifested.

Your pain has a purpose and even though you cannot see it right now, God wants to take the pain of your past and the pain of difficulties in your life and the losses that you’ve experienced and he wants you to identify with the hurting world.

out there that’s struggling because they’re suffering too. God wants you to remember this, that your mess is a message, that he has a message that he wants to give to a world that is hungry and thirsty and looking for something different.

Your testimony is powerful. Church, remember that there is spiritual blindness everywhere we go. There are spiritually blind people and it is gonna be your testimony that God is gonna use. It’s gonna be your hurts, your failures, your flaws that God is going to use because when you surrender those things to Jesus, when you give them to him, he shapes your life, he sharpens your life and he makes you more like Jesus Christ.

when they’re surrendered to him, and then he gives you a powerful testimony so that you can go to people who identify with you, who understand you, who relate to you, and they speak your language. They understand God has you right where he wants you.

I know you don’t like your family, but God’s got a plan. I know you’re trying to figure out how Uncle so -and -so got into the family tree, and I know some of you are on different websites trying to figure out your history to make sure, do I really belong to this crazy family?

Amen? You’re spending a lot of money just to know that, yep, you’re stuck. When Paul was called by God, Jesus said these words to him in Acts 26. This was his mission, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, an inheritance among them, which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

All men are blind that come into this world, but they are only blind till the gospel gives them light. Today, may each of us commit our hearts that for the rest of our life, we’re gonna allow God to reveal himself through us, and we are going to allow God to help impart spiritual life unto others through our testimony.

Would you pray with me? When Jesus Christ began his ministry, people had different opinions about him. Some said he was a prophet, others said. that he was an impostor but the man who was definitely healed and experienced the personal touch of Jesus Christ was a believer and that’s the one thing that he knew is that Christ loved him and gave his life for him and so I hope today that you know that God loves you and that you don’t have any doubt but the one thing that you can know is that Christ loves you and the Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life this is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.