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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Believe in Facts or Hope?

Sunday, 27^th August 2023

Pastor Jushia Li 李協聰牧師 (Guest Speaker)

John 9:1-17

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, 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. 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 the light of the world.” When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbours and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.” Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.” Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

We want to receive abundance and we want to receive God’s blessings, but we seldom look at what God has been doing in our lives throughout the journey. A lot of times, healing doesn’t come right at the moment of prayer, but after God planted the seeds inside our lives. We tend to have the mindset of the world, which stops us going forward. When John was writing this chapter, he focused a lot on Jesus’ teaching. Jesus is the Light of the world, what does the light mean for us? When there is darkness all around, the light will show us the direction to go. When we invite Jesus into our lives, we will experience transformation, and the power from God will be given to us.

When the disciples saw the blind man, immediately they thought it was because of his sins or the sins of his family. This is the worldly mindset, but this is not how the Kingdom of God operates. Jesus was telling us the truth, but do we see the truth? Why do we face difficulties? If we continue to stay in the old system, if we are still use the old mindset and old culture to restrain ourselves, then we cannot walk in the way of God. We must turn, to testify the glory of Jesus! Jesus comes to be glorified in us, He does not come to judge us or to condemn us. When we say ‘good-bye’ to our past, we will have a new life, and we will enter a new beginning.

We must end our previous path, the path that was walking away from God, and then we can turn back to God to be transformed. Let go and let God! As Christians, when we face difficulties, what are we thinking? God’s Will is for us to live a good life, but our hearts and our eyes must be transformed and renewed by God. Through our lives, Jesus will be glorified, when we do our part, then God will do His part. What does the blind man represent? Someone without hope, someone without a future, and we are also like the blind man. We need Jesus to come to our lives, to give us light, to give us hope, to glorify in us, and to transform our lives.

Isaiah 61 tells us that we must proclaim the sick will be healed, the blind will see, and the captive will be set free. Jesus taught us that He is the Light of the world, and through the blind man, people will see hope. When we are willing to stand up and follow Jesus, then we will no longer stay in the dark. In the darkness, God wants us to stand up, to step out, and to testify for Him. We only need to rise up, even when we don’t know the path ahead, as long as we step out and follow Him, He will show us the way, we will not be in the darkness anymore.

There may be a lot of things we don’t understand right now, when God’s supernatural power came, we may not fully comprehend. We must be alert and not to fall into the trap of religious rituals, this is not a ‘job’, but a life we are living out. The way the Kingdom of God operates is actually very simple, but we are thinking too complicatedly. Following God is easy, but we must have a simple mindset, stop the judgement, stop the analysis, and step out by faith.

To obey is not easy, and it is not a religious requirement, but this is to understand the Will of God, and to experience the Love of God. God surprises us in life, when we listen and obey, we will experience God’s supernatural miracles. Obedience is the key, to lower ourselves, to get rid of our old mindset, we don’t need to argue. Jesus comes to give us life, He doesn’t need us to do anything, but to bend down ourselves, let His Word pass through us to those around us.

The truth will not change, it is everlasting, we need to know the truth, which is the Word of God, and we need to let the Word of God continue to be preached. We are excited about miracles, but so often we don’t see the part when one humbles himself to receive God. We are like the blind man because we don’t see what God is doing. Everything we need has already been given to us, but do we stand up, step out, and take it?

Don’t wait until we have no way out to come to God, when we hear, we obey, and we will be saved. We don’t need to try very hard, we only need to let Him be our Light, to say we are willing, and His salvation and blessing will come upon us. God has already saved us again and again, but we are like the blind man, we cannot see, so He continued to call out to us, waiting for us to respond to Him. Are we willing to respond today?