Personal Evangelism in Biblical Perspective:
iShare—Encounters with Jesus in John's Gospel –
Jesus' Encounter with a Blind Man

John 9

By Dr. Harry Reeder III

We are looking at the forty-one verses in John 9 in this study. We will start by looking at John 9:1-7 which says

[1] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. [2] And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" [3] Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. [4] We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. [5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." [6] Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud [7] and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but God's Word abides forever and by His grace and mercy may His Word be preached for you.

When you share the Gospel you are a fisher of men so you have fishing pools, right? What fishing pools seem to be the hardest to catch the fish in? The Lord can save anyone. Humanly speaking, who do you think are the hardest people to reach with the Gospel? I believe the Gospel of John is taking great pains to identify this group for us. It's not for us to walk away from them but to walk toward them, look to Him and realize that these also need salvation, yet maybe the hardest to reach. Sometimes we think that they don't need to be reached. We'll get to the answer to this question in a little bit but let's start by looking at John 9.

In the last study we were at the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem where Jesus stands up at the climactic moment in the temple and shouts with a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to Me and drink." What is the evidence if you have believed in Jesus Christ and drank of Him? From his inner most being will flow rivers of living water and He was speaking of the Holy Spirit whom He pours out upon us and pours into the world through us so that the work of grace that comes to us goes through us. God didn't save us to be a reservoir but to be a river of life that drinks of Him and then sends it into the world.

To give you some chronology here, I don't think Jesus has left Jerusalem yet. That's a big deal here because there are some commentators that would disagree with that. The reason I don't think He has is because there is an arrest warrant out and He is under a death sentence. They actually came seeking Him but I don't think He's left yet. In fact, I think He stayed at least another week. We left Him on the great day of the feast which was a Sabbath day and now we're picking Him up on another Sabbath Day. He is still in Jerusalem, by the temple, where the beggars beg and He is right in front of the place where they ask for alms which is called the Gate Beautiful. While He is there in the temple area again He passes by and there seems to be a man who is well known.

The Scriptures take great pains to let you know three times that he is blind and he's been blind since birth. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't some kind of emotional experience that brought blindness to him. Here is a man who was actually born blind that people seem to know about. His parents are still in the area and people see him and are well aware of him. When Jesus passes by this man His disciples turn to Him and ask Him a question. Their question is was it his sin or his parent's sin that caused his blindness?

One day a person called me and said "Can I ask you a question?" "Sure." He said "Pastor, don't worry this is not a theological question." I said, "Then it's not a question." Every question in life is theological. So the question the disciples are asking is profoundly theological. It is that this man is blind and he has been blind since birth. Was it his sin or his parent's sin? In that question they have two correct theological assumptions and then they have one false conundrum.

What are their two correct theological assumptions? We live in a broken world with disease, death, disappointment, adversity, and discouragement. I know that has touched everyone reading this. If it hasn't it will. Now, why is it here? Simply, all of those things that are here are here because of original sin which is when Adam sinned. There was a real Adam specially created by God from the dust of the ground. As he was created God then made from him his wife and as they sinned they brought the curse of sin into this world which is death and all of its attendance of sorrow, sickness, disappointments, disabilities, discouragements and all those things that are there. So original sin is the source of the brokenness in this world.

Assumption number two that is correct is that God does from time to time responds to actual sin by bringing adversity, judgment, death, destruction and disease. You see it in the destruction of Jericho, the Moabites, and the Egyptians. God can bring condemning judgment into this world. Sometimes He brings redemptive judgment in response to the sins of His people even as He did with Israel to refine them and to mature them. This is called in the New Testament the refiner's fire. When you go home to prepare for the Lord's Supper you do so, so that you can come in a manner worthy. If you don't come in a manner worthy we position ourselves to be judged not like those in the world which is condemning judgment, but a judgment because you come in a manner unworthy of the Lord. You come in a manner to take what He means as a means of grace as a means of self-exaltation. A number of you are sick and sleep because of that so God brings redemptive judgment to refine, mature and call His people to great faithfulness. Sometimes He'll bring condemning judgment because of actual sin in this world and sometimes He'll bring redemptive judgment.

Jesus says that those aren't the only two options. You might be thinking why would they ask if it was his sin if he was blind from birth. It was because the Jewish view of life believed that life began at conception and sin begins at conception. So they wanted to know if he sinned in the womb or did his parents sin and that's why he came from the womb. Was it his actual sin or their actual sin? Jesus answered "No. This man's blindness is here to display the glory and grace of God, in his life in a manner which would never be displayed." You are asking why, cause and I'm telling you why, purpose. This is the purpose of this man's blindness.

Then Jesus bends over and takes some dust from the ground and He spits upon it. Carefully it will say in the text seven different times "makes mud." Jesus will place this mud upon the blind man's eyes. He is still not healed but Jesus tells him to go to the pool of Siloam to wash his eyes. He does and when he comes back he is healed after he finishes that process. This is a very unique process and everyone wants to know why He did it this way. Two denominations started that day. There was a denomination that started that believed Jesus healed blind men. There was another denomination that started that believed Jesus healed blind men but one of these believed that when Jesus heals blind men He speaks and then the person saw. This time He spat on clay and rubbed it on the man's eyes. So one group was called the healing church through the spoken word and the other church was the healing church through mud and spit. There were the mudites and the anti-mudites. You do realize I am joking with you, right?

Why did Jesus choose to do it that way? This is fun reading when you read the different commentators on this. I wish I could spend all my time here but I can't. One group said He was bringing people back to creation. The God who made Adam from the dust of the ground by His own power, now takes dust of the ground, places the saliva upon it and heals this man broken by sin. So this is pointing back to the creation and the Creator, Himself who has come to make it right. Another commentator points out that what He has done is a process where He is about to use this as a spiritual lesson of spiritual sight that when God uses people's lives He brings them through a process.

Remember the term water representing wash and water is the word. We are born again by the Spirit and the water of the Word. Then there is another whole layer with this when He sends him to the pool of Siloam. John tells us in the text what the name of the pool of Siloam means which means sent. Why? You wouldn't have a pool unless God had sent the water through Hezekiah's tunnel. Hezekiah's tunnel brought the water to the pool of Siloam that washes, brings healing that God uses because it was sent. Who is the Healer of our soul and one day the Healer of our body for the new heavens and the new earth? It is Jesus Christ who was sent. He is the water of life to us and then He sends us. Then from our inner most being will flow rivers of living water. There is a reason He sends him to this pool and this pool is sent and there's a whole other layer to this pool as a symbol for another sermon.

I want to tell you the real reason I believe that He made such a big deal out of this going all the way down there and coming all the way back and this clay/mud that He made from the dust of the ground. Why did He do that? I think He is picking an argument in a sanctified way. Alfred Edersheim the great Jewish Christian theologian brings out something about this. Jesus has already gotten in trouble for healing a man on the Sabbath and they accused him of making the man break Sabbath by telling the man to pick up his possessions and walk. Tell me a place in the Old Testament where in the ceremonial Sabbath you can't pick up your possessions and walk. It didn't come from there. The Rabbis in that day had put together a list that had become elevated over the Biblical principles of keeping Sabbath. So they had elevated those traditions over the Biblical principles.

How many traditions were there? There were thirty nine of them. The 39 one was that you couldn't carry your possessions on the Sabbath. So Jesus You broke the Sabbath because you made him break one of our traditions about the Sabbath. Another one of the 39 traditions was they couldn't make mud or dough on the Sabbath. You weren't supposed to work on the Sabbath. Women would work on the inside by making dough. Men would work outside by making mud. We still do this today. When you lay bricks or cement blocks you do that with mud or mortar which is the same thing. So Jesus is deliberately, sanctified, holy, picking the argument. Watch how many times the word mud is used in John 9. They don't even talk about the healing. They are not upset because He spat on the Sabbath but it's because He made mud and because He broke their tradition of keeping Sabbath.

So now what's going to happen? There is a first encounter in John 9:1-34 and there will be a second encounter in John 9:35-41. In this first encounter He set up a unique process. The man is healed now that he has washed at the pool of Siloam. Now when the man returns four interrogations are going to take place therefore there are four opportunities to confess, witness and share Christ that will come about. Let's go through them now. So the man comes back from the pool healed and this is where we pick up in the text.

John 9:8-12 says [8] The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" [9] Some said, "It is he." Others said, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." [10] So they said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" (interrogation) [11] He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed and received my sight." [12] They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know." The man had not seen Jesus yet. He wasn't healed when he encountered Jesus until after he went to the pool and washed.

So the people are asking him how this happened. First it was this man Jesus. Secondly, He sat, made mud and put it on my eyes. Thirdly, He sent me to the pool of Siloam. Fourthly, I went. Fifthly, I washed and I saw. So where is He? The man says "I don't know. If I knew I'd tell you but I don't know. What do they do? They then call in the police. So they went to get "the Jews" meaning the Pharisees, the religious and political rulers of Jerusalem. Now is the second interrogation starting in verse 13.

John 9:13-16 says [13] They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. [14] Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. [15] So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." [16] Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them. There is nothing in the Bible that says you can't make mud. The Rabbis are the ones that said you can't make mud and what we say is absolutely crucial. So if you don't do what we say you can't be right with God. We are the arbiters of what is acceptable and our traditions elevated over God's Word.

Then there is a division among the Pharisees. These are the same people that have taken a vote to kill Him and these are the people that have put out an arrest warrant for Him. Now there is a division among them. Yet how can He do this if He's a sinner like we're saying? How can He do this if He's a false Messiah? This isn't just blindness, this is blindness from birth. Let's continue. John 9:17 says [17] So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." He has done the signs, wonders and miracles. One sent from God is a prophet. Now let's go to a third interrogation. John 9:18-23 says

[18] The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight [19] and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" [20] His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. [21] But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." (John gives us insight in the next two verses) [22] (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) [23] Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

In other words, they bring in the parents for this third interrogation in this encounter and they have three questions for them. 1) Is this your son? 2) Was he blind from birth? 3) How is that he sees now? They answer two. Yes he is our son and yes he has been blind since birth. How does he see? We don't know. Ask him. Actually John lets you know that they really did not how he saw and who did it. The man has been telling everybody – Jesus, mud, eyes, anointed, pool of Siloam. Everybody knows and they know too. They know just like the neighbors know. His parents know but they decide not to say. The reason they didn't tell them is because not only was there a warrant for Jesus' arrest and passed a death sentence on Him but they had also passed a ban on Jesus and on all who affirmed Him. Those who did would be put out of the synagogue.

So why would that be frightening to his parents? If you are not in the synagogue or allowed in the temple then you are no longer welcome in Israel. You would be just like a Gentile or a tax gatherer. You have been excommunicated. It's hard for us because as churches we try to do church discipline and if you happen to have to experience excommunication what happens in our society. They just go next door to another church which they really don't care what the other church did in church discipline but that was not true then. When you were put out of the temple then you are out and their son is on the verge of being put out. If they repeat what their son says they will be with him.

I want to be careful here because I actually love these parents. I'm not jumping on the parents here but there is a reason John is telling us about the parents here. Here are parents who have had a son that has been blind since birth and they didn't abandon him like most would in that culture. So, on the one hand there is some respect that I want to affirm but on the other hand John is telling you that when it came point to the time to tell who and how, they said to go ask him. He can tell you not us and the reason they didn't say was because of the ban that was on Jesus and their fear.

That leads us to another interrogation and that is the Pharisees decide to take round two with the man that is healed. John 9:24 says [24] So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." In other words, they are bringing the religious and political power they had and told him to 'Give glory to God.' In today's language that would be translated in our courtroom 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.' They not only bring the specter (give glory to God) to that but they then give him the answer. The answer is that if you're going to give glory to God we have determined that you must deny this Man who healed you and you must deny Him as the Messiah. He is not the Messiah. He is a sinner, a false Christ and therefore using their religious reasoning, to honor and give glory to God you must call His Son a blasphemer. If you don't we'll put you out. Bullying and intimidation are nothing new. So they declare that if he is to give glory to God he must deny who Jesus is and what He did.

Let's continue. John 9:25-27 says [25] He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." [26] They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"(They are back to this mud stuff again.) [27] He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" I can't wait to get to heaven to talk to this guy. I have already given my testimony three times and it's not going to change. You can't be this ignorant. You must be asking so that you can be His disciple also. So what's their response to him? John 9:28-33 says

[28] And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. [29] We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." [30] The man answered, "Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. (This man quotes Moses back to them.) [31] We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. (God has an intimate relationship that entwines His providence with our prayers if we have a relationship with Him but if we don't God is under no obligation in the prayer life of one who is apart from Him.) [32] Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. [33] If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

He is telling them that Moses is actually pointing to everything He is did and so he is using Moses to back them into a corner. I was blind but now I see. Look how the simplicity of that has now confounded the wise and intelligent.

John 9:34 says [34] They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out. It's not about whether what he said was true but it's their arrogance to think that he would teach them anything. They in their self- righteousness, religious acumen and learning have now elevated themselves upon anybody and everybody. It doesn't matter what they say. You have to be like them. They have no need of a Savior. They excommunicate him. They cast him out. Now here is the second encounter with Jesus.

John 9:35-41 says [35] Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" [36] He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" [37] Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you." [38] He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. [39] Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." [40] Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" [41] Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.

Do you see where we have gone in 41 verses and why I needed to cover all 41 verses? We just went from a man who was blind physically, who was brought to sight physically, who was brought to sight spiritually, who got eyes of the head and eyes of the heart and all of it comes back around to point out a whole category of people who say they see but in reality it reveals they are blind. Their own righteousness and arrogance is the declaration.

You may be thinking that the first time Jesus came into the world He didn't come to bring judgment but to bear judgment for us and the second time He comes He'll come to bring judgment but Jesus just said He came to bring judgment. You have to put it in the context of what has just happened here. So how did Jesus come to bear judgment but yet still in some sense bring judgment? Let's go to the Second Advent. When Jesus comes the second time will He come to bear judgment to go to a cross or will He come to bring judgment? He will come to bring judgment but when He comes to bring judgment it will reveal those who are not under judgment. When He came the first time to bear judgment He also revealed those who in reviling Him and rejecting Him are still under judgment. In other words, when He comes He brings that division. Here are those who respond to the light by God's sovereign, searching, sufficient grace and here are those who say 'no' to what they say they see and it merely reveals that they don't see and that they're blind.

I want to give you three takeaways from this text yet one of them isn't directly related to iShare. The first is one word of perspective. We live in a broken world. Do you know anybody with disabilities, blindness, sickness, disease, death etc.? We are one. We encounter these things. Do we assume that all the brokenness in this world is because of sin ultimately and finally? Absolutely. If there was no sin there would be no brokenness. How do I know? It is because there will be a new heavens and a new earth coming in which there is no sin and no ability to sin and in that day there will be no sorrow, sickness, disease or death. On this side I'm in a broken world because of sin and from time to time because of actual sin God brings both condemning and retributive judgment.

Do you remember the three letter question kids ask? It is why. When you answer then they say again why. After about the seventh time you say "It's because I said so, that's why." We are asking the why questions and I understand the necessity to ask the why question of origin and cause but I believe believers ask the why question for purpose. Here is something you can know. If you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior there is no death, no sickness, no despair in this world that God will not use to give you a platform to glorify Him and will use to perfect you and refine you in a way you wouldn't have without it.

I was brought face to face with this so powerfully early on in my ministry when I had the opportunity to show the Joni Eareckson Tada film in Miami and the follow up film to it. Then we went to Charlotte and partnered with Joni and offered some offices for the special needs ministry. I have had the privilege to be involved in that ministry all of my life. I'm amazed at it and thankful for it. I remembered one thing Joni said and couldn't wait for her to get to Charlotte to ask her about it. When I heard her say concerning her testimony "If I could go back and undo the day that I dove into that lake, broke my neck and became a quadriplegic, I would not go back and undo it" I wanted to know why not. She said to me, "Do you know the people that I have had the privilege to bring to Christ and encourage that I never would have with a whole neck and the use of all of my limbs." This is to display the works of God while it is still day and not night.

With hope and anticipation, God why is this in my life? It is for purpose for the glory of Your grace in me and through me and for the glory of Your grace to me. I know it will be for Your glory. Jesus in this moment is referring back to Joseph when he said "You meant this for evil but God meant it for good to bring about this situation" or He is anticipating Paul when he will say "We know that God causes all things to work together for good." Not all things are good but all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Look at the people that this man witnessed to – neighbors, friends, Pharisees. He is bearing witness to Christ because of where he has been.

Sometimes God sovereignly heals physically with glory upon glory but sometimes He doesn't. Paul prayed that the thorn in his flesh would be removed. Now please get beyond this notion that if you're not healed then you didn't believe good enough. This man was healed before he became a believer. Sometimes God heals with faith, through faith, in spite of the lack of faith, over faith, generate faith, encouraged faith, refined faith for God has multiple purposes in his sovereign work of healing, but for the believer whether it's the healing now or in eternity God uses it for this purpose – His glory and us in a way it could never be seen before and our good in a way we would never know before. As the Father, we trust Him because He doesn't give bad gifts to His children even in a broken world. That means we trust Him and His purposes.

The second takeaway is three thoughts about iShare. The first is iShare and the snare. There were four times in this text to bear witness for Christ. Once was before the neighbors, twice in front of the Pharisees, and once by the parents in front of the Pharisees. What opened the door for this man to share who Christ was and what Christ did for Him in his life? It was a changed life. We are always looking for a way to get to people about Jesus and the biggest open door is a changed life. Isn't this the guy who used to sit and beg? This man is different. What has happened to him? A changed life in our life is what opens up the door to share. When the door was opened and he began to share he confessed Christ in each and every situation. As he is confessing Christ he is pointing them to Christ as far as he knows at that time. The only time it falters is with his parents. Why? It is because of the fear of man which brings a snare.

I think it's true with most of us, starting with me. What will they say about me? What will it cost me? For the parents they would get put out of the synagogue. We will be cut off from everything. How do you overcome fear? Here are three suggestions for you. The first one is the most important one. Perfect love casts out all fear. To know the love of Christ in your life is what will cast out all fear even the fear of man that brings a snare so that we don't share.

The second thing that liberates us from fear of sharing the Gospel is the intimacy of our relationship with the Lord. The man's parents didn't have that relationship with the Lord but when you know Christ as your Savior you'll have a depth and intimacy of relationship with Him. It's like if you're around me long enough you'll hear me talk about my wife, my kids, my grandkids and Briarwood. When you have an intimate relationship with people you will talk about it to the depth of it. The parents had not had that yet and so you can't confess Him if you don't possess Him, but when you possess Him even the fear of man will not stop you from confessing Him.

The third thing that gets over this fear of man in this snare is that you don't need glory from man. This man knew that it wasn't the synagogue that was going to get him to heaven or the glory from man. When you seek glory from men then men will use fear to control you. Here is an example of this. There is a fellow believer who owns a company who was recently interviewed. In the interview he basically said we believe marriage is between one man and one woman, with one life, a traditional view of marriage and we give to support that. Here we have arrogant, elected politicians, a mayor of a city that say we don't support that and we won't let that business in our town. That is called bullying, arrogance, and intimidation. That's exactly what the world does in its self-righteousness. We cannot respond in like manner. We are not allowed to. Courage, yes, humility yes, but we don't respond with bullying, intimidation and arrogance. We respond just like that man when he said "I was blind but now I see. He did it. It's the truth."

I understand why you get the angst because just in the space of a few short years what used to be accepted as light – one man, one woman, one life – is now called bigoted and all. I understand the difficulty of it but that's what your brothers faced in the first and second century and they just lived it out, shared it out and proclaimed it out in humble reliance upon Divine grace and spoke courageously. If you don't seek glory from man then you get free from the fear of man because intimidation and bullying does not push you in the corner of silence about Christ.

The second iShare word about this is the process of conversion. Conversion, when you come to Christ is an event but it's a process of evangelism and calling. You see it with this man. This man is blind and Jesus finds him. He passes by and sovereignly reaches into his life. He touches him. Who did it? It was that Man. Who did it? He is a Prophet. Who did it? He is the Son of Man. Who did it? He is the Lord. Do you see that process? That is exactly what happens. In evangelism you are planting and watering, on the flipside the people that you're working with are going through the process of calling where it is getting clearer and clearer and clearer. He goes from that Man Jesus to Prophet to Son of Man to Lord of glory and he worshiped him.

You also get the profile of somebody who is converted. When someone gets truly converted what is the profile? They are lost and undone. Jesus found him. Don't you just love that Jesus found him. He goes from lost and undone to found and becomes a witness and a worshiper. The saved become witnesses and worshipers. I believe and he worshiped him (John 9:38). That is the process. I'm lost. I'm found. He did it and we bear witness of Him and worship Him. Those are the evidences of the converted. There is the process of conversion in this text. There is the profile of the converted in this text.

Then there is the third takeaway which is the last word and it is simply this. This text tells you who is really blind. We feel very sorry for and open up to the man that is born blind but when we get to the end of the text who is blind? It is the people who say they see. The man who was sightless physically, not only got his sight physically but spiritually. Those who could see physically and said they could see spiritually and even to this point we'll take our religion to bully you, "Give glory to God" by blaspheming Jesus and it is at that moment that we can see those who are really blind displayed with their arrogance. Who is it? I will answer with the question I started with.

I think the most difficult fishing pool is not those addicted to sex, money drugs or anything like that but I understand those are difficult situations. I think the most difficult people to reach and it pulsates in the Gospel of John are self-righteous religionists. They say they see, they say they're saved, by their own works yet are blind, but don't stop taking the Gospel to them. Nicodemus will get saved. Joseph of Arimathea will get saved. It will be the toughest fishing pool but go fishing in it. How do you do it? It is not by returning arrogance or intimidation but with humble courage. I was blind but now I see.

I have told you this before but when you learn to share your faith with others I encourage you to have a 2 minute elevator testimony, a 10 minute lunchroom testimony, and a 30 minute dinner table testimony. This man is a prime example of this. They asked him the first time and he went through his 30 minute testimony. I was born blind, this man came, did this mud thing, put it on my eyes, I went to the pool, washed and then I could see. He went through this whole process. Then the next time they asked him he said "He made some mud, put it on my eyes, I washed and I saw." The third time he was asked he said "I was blind but now I see. He did it." So just have your multiple testimonies but don't be silent. Speak for Jesus everywhere and anywhere and to everybody. Watch what the Lord does as He brings them through the process. Watch what He does as He brings the evidences of witnesses who are also worshipers. Then enjoy God's great privilege of being a part of working while it's still day for the night is coming and our work is over. Let's pray.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for the time we could be together in Your Word. Thank You for the privilege to declare the glory and majesty of the Light of the Gospel in Jesus Christ alone. Christ alone is our Savior and our Lord. We lift Him up. We were blind but now we see. Jesus did it. It was not our religion but Jesus did it. Thank You for True Religion that flows from a relationship with Christ and Father, help us to take this Gospel Message to the irreligious and even that tough fishing pool of the religious self-righteous. Father, please never let us embrace the arrogance of self-righteous religion. Father, please let us not become self-righteous because we have heard about grace but do a real work of grace in us that flows through us to the world for Jesus' sake, Amen.