 Okay, yes. Let us pray and we will begin. Arendt, could you please lead us in prayer today? Sure, first prayer. Sure. They will be praying. Our father, we just want to say thank you for this offer of pessimism in the world. Our father, the learning world, our father. As we are typing in your word to our father, I pray for you to understand our father. But they are hard. Our father in law, our father, I pray for pessimism in our father. Keep the wisdom in knowledge of our father. As you, which is your word, our father, in law, our father, I pray for, I pray for all the students and pessimists in the world. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Arendt, for committing this time to God in prayer. We will continue from where we had stopped in the last class. So we saw John chapter eight, you know, wonderful, wonderful passage where Jesus makes so many claims about himself. And he reveals that, you know, he is the light of the world, he's the, he's the bread of life. Yeah. So basically he just reveals that he has come from God, that he's sent from above, and that he is the Messiah. And towards the end, you know, he adds, and he says that before Abraham was, I am. So we see the claims of Jesus. Oh, okay, you know, bread of life is six, John six, sorry. So it's not John eight. But yeah, he does claim that he's the light of the world towards the end he claims. And he says that before Abraham was, I am. So just revealing that even Abraham, whom they held in high regard, that, you know, they trusted Abraham as one of those men who was part of the very beginning of their faith. Now Jesus is claiming to be before Abraham. So then he's making it very clear that he is God. So his claims about himself we have seen. And so far we have seen a great conflict arising against Jesus. He's doing miraculous works. He is speaking the words of God. He's displaying the authority of God. And yet people are not ready to believe, especially the religious leaders, the Pharisees, even when he does good works. They are asking the wrong questions because they are not willing to accept the obvious fact that this man is no ordinary man. He has come from God. So that's what we've seen so far. The way Jesus is doing his ministry. And he's giving witness to the very truth that he's the Messiah. So then we went on to John chapter nine. And in John chapter nine, what we saw is there was a blind person blind from birth. And Jesus asks like he makes clay with his spit and he asks that person to go in, wash in the pool of Siloam. This blind man does it and he receives his sight. So that's where we were at. We saw that this was a miraculous healing because he was blind from his birth. And how do you try and explain? Isn't it something like a person who has never seen finally being able to see, but that happened before their eyes. And when this happened, people were questioning and asking that the Pharisees, they were the ones who asked again, they did not want to believe. No matter what miraculous work Jesus did, they did not want to believe that he is the Messiah. So they go and ask this man, how were your eyes opened? So that is the question they're asking him because it is unusual. It is something that cannot happen and has never happened. So they ask him, how were your eyes open? And he answers, the man answers and he says, 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, I received sight. So is his explanation clear? It is very clear. He has mentioned that Jesus is the one who has healed him. Now, look at the questioning more than being marveled at the fact that this person has healed these Pharisees and the people in authority. The question they're asking is where is he? So that is more important for them. As if there is an offense, generally we would ask, where is this person? Somebody has stolen, somebody has created some violent atmosphere. We ask, where is this person so that we can imprison them, we can try them and all of that. So it seems like the leaders of the time, they are not interested in the power and the words of Jesus, but they are more interested in saving that position. So that is why out of insecurity, they're asking, where is he? So this man answers and he says, I don't know where he is. So look at what happens next. They bring him to the Pharisees and they make an argument about the fact that Jesus healed this person on which day, Sabbath. Have you heard this before? On the Sabbath, when Jesus healed, they had an issue with it, same thing. They're coming up with the same issue here and they're questioning Jesus and it's like they are making a big deal out of the healing on the Sabbath. So the Pharisees, they are saying verse 16, this man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. So it's very clear that they are unwilling to accept Jesus as the Messiah, no matter what he does. A blind man who could not see from his birth has been healed, but the hardness of heart and we have talked about it. So they come up with the reason, when hearts are hard, there need not be a logical answer or a logical reason for why you believe what you believe. People are willing to come up with any reason so that they can justify what they believe. So they believe that this man is not from God, so they wanted to justify it and therefore they're coming up with all kinds of arguments. Their argument is this man is not from God because what did he do? He has healed on the Sabbath, he did not keep the Sabbath. So the argument is that he is not from God and obviously if he is not from God, he must be a mortal man, sinful just like everyone else. But the crowd is divided as we've already seen. So some people, they ask the question, you're saying he's not from God but how can a sinner do such signs? So the work in itself is revealing the power of God and the people are unable to come to terms with it. So some are saying he's Messiah, some are saying he's not Messiah. Now because this blind person is being interrogated, they continue to ask him questions. So they ask him the question, who do you say is or what do you say about him? And this man he says he's a prophet. Why did he say he's a prophet? Because Jesus said go wash in the pool of silver. So Jesus knew that if he did this act he would be healed. And the blind man knew that Jesus had that sense of what is going to happen if he follows Jesus's instruction. So he perceived that Jesus is a prophet. So his answer was, let's say he is the Messiah but he said he's a prophet. Now the Jews, they were upset. As they are discussing the whole group they are not agreeing that he's not the Messiah. The conclusion they wanted was he's a sinner and he needs to be punished. So that is the conclusion they wanted. Within their group they're not coming to that conclusion. There is division. Some people think that he's a good man. They ask the blind man, if the blind man were also to say that this man is evil or this man is unrighteous they could have taken action on him. But he's saying that I think he's a prophet. So they are finding a way to get a statement against Jesus. So they decide that it's no use asking the blind man. Let's ask the parents of the blind man. They go ahead and ask the parents of the blind man. Is this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he see now? It's like a trick question again. They want an answer against Jesus. What do the parents respond? The parents say, yes, this is our son. We know that he was born blind. They give testimony to that. But beyond that, what they say is how this happened regarding that you ask him. Don't question us. So it is likely that they are also afraid of the consequences or the results of confirming that this man, Jesus, he has something different about him. So they do not want to take the conversation to Jesus being special. So to avoid that, what they have done is they put the onus back on the son itself. And they're saying he's grown up. Why don't you ask him? He can speak for himself. So when this is happening, they again call the blind man. And they kind of correct him. And they say, give glory, give God the glory. We know that this man is a singer. So they're rebuking him because he has some regard for Jesus. He said that he's a prophet. So the Pharisees did not like it. The Jews also did not like it. And they are rebuking him and they're telling him, look, the only person who deserves glory or the only person who must be elevated is God. Why are you elevating this man? We know that this man is a sinner. So it was already settled in their hearts that Jesus is a sinner. And they wanted to prove it in any which way. So the man replies. And he says that look, you're talking about all these things. And you're trying to understand who this Jesus is. I don't want to get into all that. He says, look, I don't know whether he's a sinner or not. I don't know all those things. One thing I know that though I was blind, now I see. So that is the explanation which the blind man gives. Now looking at what the blind man said, we can say that even in our lives, when we started our journey with God, maybe we didn't know a lot about Jesus. We knew that he's a Messiah. We were born again in our sins. We repented of our sins and God did a deep work in our hearts. Our lives changed. There are testimonies from each one of our lives. Sometimes when we try to tell people about Jesus, now it's not required to know all the scriptures and all the theological arguments about this Christ. Now if we know well and good, if we don't know, we can still tell others what the blind man said. What did he say? He said, look, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I know, though I was blind, now I see. So it is like giving the evidence for Christ, for Jesus being the Christ through our very lives. When we say, you know what, this is the story of my life or this is the testimony of my life. Once I was like this, you know, once I was fearful, once I was caught up in sin, once my family was going through these kind of challenges and this is what the Lord Jesus has done for me. Now it's a wonderful way of revealing Christ to those who don't know Him. We can just share our story. So simple. That's what the blind man did. What did he say? He said, look, what I know I'll tell you. I know about my life, how it was, how it is now. And that's a great way of leading people to Christ. And we must remember that. So that is how the blind man approached this whole thing for him. The only thing mattered is his life changed. And he was ready to talk about it. Now let's move forward. Let's see what's going on. The Pharisees, the Jews, they are not ready to accept whatever is being said about Jesus because in their minds, they've already concluded. How can he be the Christ? He's a sinner. That is the conclusion. So these people question him some more to see, okay, come on, can we get some handle against Jesus? So they ask him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? So this man is getting irritated. He's saying, look, I already told you and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? See how he deals with the repeated questioning. So he asks them back this question. Do you also want to become his disciples? It's like the wisdom of God. Through this one statement, he's able to stop their questioning. So I don't know how God gave him that sentence. He said, I already told you but you don't believe. Do you also want to become his disciples? So obviously the leaders were very, very offended and they tell him, look, we are not the disciples of Jesus, but we are the disciples of Moses. So we know that they were so proud of being the descendants of Abraham. They were so proud of being the people who Moses led. So they had reverence for Moses. They had reverence for David. They had reverence for all these men of God, but they did not want to put their trust in Jesus because sometimes what God is doing, it does not... The packaging, yes, the content is very real. It is in line with scripture. Jesus is fulfilling the prophecies of God. But the way it appears, it's not what they had in mind. For example, we said that Jesus came. He was born in a lowly manger. It doesn't connect to our logical mind. We feel like something is wrong. How can the Son of God be born in the manger? So it becomes hard for us to accept that God does something in a slightly different way. So same thing is happening here to the leaders. They are not able to accept that this Jesus is the Son of God. They were ready to accept all the other men and they are so proudly talking about the fact that they are disciples of Moses. And they tell this blind man, look, God spoke to Moses. And we know that Moses was connected to God. Who is this man? We don't know. So don't talk about this person called Jesus. That was their attitude. So now the blind man is amazed. It actually should be the other way round. People around the blind man should be amazed that a man who was blind from birth is now able to see. But what's happening? The blind man is amazed. Why? Because he is saying, how come you don't know where he is from? Yet, you know, this man whom you are trying to build a case against, he is the one who has healed me. He has healed me. And basically, see that statement says, the blind man says, why this is a marvelous thing that you do not know where he is from, yet he has opened my eyes. So the blind man is saying, I am amazed that, you know, you have so much against this man. And yet, who is this man? What is his testimony? What is his, you know, life example? He's walking in the miracles of God. And that is problematic for you. I'm amazed by all of you is what he's telling them. And then he also adds and he says, look, don't you know that the God we worship, he does not hear, sing us. Now there are some, you know, old testament scriptures where we see that if we have iniquity in our hearts, God will not hear us. So in that sense, the blind man, whatever little knowledge he had about God, he says, we know that God never hears the prayers of sinners. And today he was standing there able to see and who prayed over him or who ministered to him Jesus. And the prayer was answered. So basically he's trying to say, this is common, common knowledge that God does not hear the prayers of sinners. Only if they are a worshipper of God, he hears them since the world began. It's like he's just trying to understand why it is so hard for them. He's saying, look, since the world began, it is unheard that anyone opened the eyes of one who was blind. So he's saying, don't you think it is just, you know, incredible that before, like throughout history, we have never heard anyone opening a blind person's eyes. But today he's standing in front of them and that should be an abasement to the people. And then he's trying to make a case and say, God does not hear the prayers of sinners, but Jesus, when he ministered, today I stand as a witness. Something that has never happened has happened. My eyes are opened. Then this man, you know, how come Yalla's saying that he's not from God? Unless he's from God, he could do nothing. So verse 33, the blind man says, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing. So he has come to the right conclusion in his heart. But the leaders of this time, they are struggling in the hardness of heart. It is an unbelieving heart which the people are carrying in the face of such a mighty miracle. Now this also shows us that when God works, when supernatural things take place, when miracles take place in people's lives, when people are healed, they are delivered, we may not get a positive response from everybody. That is our expectation, isn't it? We might think that, yeah, now the church will grow, now many people will come to believe in Jesus Christ and this is how things are going to be. But look at the response. Some believed, but others are still questioning. Even though it is such a supernatural work. I don't know about you, but in my lifetime, I don't think I have seen anybody whose eyes have been opened, no blind person who has seen. Till today, I have not. In my circle, I have heard testimonies, but I have never seen. So if that happens, will I be amazed? Very amazed. And that is the miracle Jesus did and yet the Jews, the people around are not willing to accept it and they are creating a trouble of a different kind. So when the blind man, out of his simple faith, he says, I don't know all these things. Once I was blind, now I see. And never in history have you heard a blind man being able to see if this man were not from God, he could not do this. So simple faith, he has simple faith and what does simple faith do? Simple faith can see what God is doing. So he was able to see. Look at these other people, what they say. They are upset. They are saying that this man is a sinner and now they are blaming the blind man. They are telling it, you were completely born in sins and you are teaching us and they throw him out. So when somebody wants to believe the lies, truth can be spoken from every side. Can you see that? From everywhere it is clear that Jesus is the Messiah but the Jews want to believe their own lies. So now when the blind man is also giving witness that he is the Messiah, they say, okay, stop talking. We don't want to listen to you because they don't want to change the lies in their head and then they are accusing him. We don't know what the background of this man is but they say you were born in sins and remember they had that concept that when people sin, they would have a consequence. So this man was blind because he would have sinned or his parents would have sinned. So that was their understanding. So they are blaming him now and they are telling why are you talking to us? You were blind. You are a sinful person. You don't have to teach us. And he got healed. So what would he have expected? He would have expected that in the society, in the community, people are going to rejoice with him but you see here, what did the leaders do to him? They threw him out, cast him out. That means excommunicated or removed him from the community. It would have been very painful for him but let's see what happens. Now Jesus, he hears that they had cast him out. So being rejected, it's so painful isn't it? And in this case, we are told that from his own community he had been shut out. How does God respond? When we are rejected for acknowledging him. So what did the blind man do? He said, look this Jesus something different about him. So he was standing by what he knew about Jesus. For that, he paid a price. They threw him out. When Jesus heard that it says when he had found him. So it tells us that maybe he put in some effort to find this man and then he asks him do you believe in the Son of God? Because Jesus is seeing some faith in him. He already stood up for Christ in front of the Jews. So now Jesus is asking him to complete that. Jesus is asking him the question do you believe in the Son of God? He answered him. Who is he Lord that I may believe in? You look here. There is a little bit of faith which the blind man has but he does not fully know that Jesus is the Messiah. But what does Jesus do in this situation? Jesus guides him to the truth that he is the Son of God. We might come across so many people like this. You know, I have a lot of acquaintances in this category where they have experienced some miracles. They know that the teachings of Christ are very applicable to everyday life. These principles really make a difference. They are in that category but they are not believers of Christ. They do not think that he is the Messiah yet. So those who are in that category like this blind man to some extent there is faith in his heart. What does Jesus say? Jesus introduces him to the complete truth of God. He asks him the right question for his salvation. What is that? Faith in Christ, isn't it? He asks him, do you believe in the Son of God? And again the blind man something we are noticing about him is honest. He is so honest. He says, look I knew that I would surely believe in him. Then Jesus replies to him and he says you have both seen him and it is he who is talking with you. So Jesus tells him, in other words he says, I am the Messiah and the moment Jesus told him that he is the Messiah what happens? The blind man responds and he says, Lord I believe and he worshiped him. So those among us who may not know about salvation we can lead them we can lead them the way Jesus asked the right question about him being the Christ we can share God's word with such friends of us and then they make their own decision obviously this man was not forced in any way but he responds he already experienced the miracle of God in his life so he says, Lord I believe meaning I want to be saved I give my life to you I want to follow you and then what happens is he worships Jesus hope to be worshiped only worship God we do not worship man but what happened to this blind man he has come to the knowledge that Jesus is the Messiah and the moment we encounter God anyone who encounters God the natural response is worship because that's how we have been created when we encounter God we cannot do anything else but worship because his presence is so awesome you know that just that dynamics that God has created we can't bypass that the moment you recognize, wow this is God's presence something within you says what a wonderful God what is that? worship worship begins to come out of us and we begin to adore this wonderful God so same thing the moment he recognized I'm speaking to God Jesus is the Messiah he changes the way he was talking to Jesus till now his approach becomes one of worship towards Jesus so then Jesus says for judgment I have come into this world that those who do not see may see those who see may be may be blind so based on whatever happened till now in this passage we have seen the blind man he got healed the blind person could see who was physically blind and God opened his physical eyes but with the question where he told him that he's the Messiah with the question that led to the blind man we believe that he's the Messiah his spiritual eyes were also open so Jesus is kind of pointing to that and he says those who could not see like this blind man both naturally and spiritually they are able to see but those who claim to see who are they the Jews the Pharisees the scribes they are all the Jews but I'm just using different terms Pharisees, scribes or the religious people the religious people and these religious people they are also the learned people they know the scriptures so in that sense we are calling them as a category of people who can see or who have understanding about the things of God but how unfortunate though you can see you are not able to see the depth of what God is revealing so they are seeing the scriptures but the scriptures are pointing to Jesus and that they are not able to see and that's what Jesus is saying right now and those who see may be blind may be blind isn't that God wanted the leaders, spiritual leaders to be blind no see it's not free will it's something that God has created even in the garden of Eden if there was no free will then God could have controlled the choices Adam you can't eat the fruit Eve, stop it make the fruit drop from her hand God could have done that but because free will is very much a part of God's creation God's creation I'm saying God's creation because not just mankind he said I will become greater than God I will ascend he makes a decision to do whatever he wants to do does God come against free will he doesn't he lets people make their choices so these religious people the fact that they are blind to the truth that Jesus is the Messiah it was their own choice though the language here seems to tell us that as a God Jesus says that those who see may be made blind doesn't mean that God is making them blind but they have chosen to be blind so we have to understand it in context God doesn't make people's heart hard each one of us we are responsible for our hard hearts even Pharaoh because people use the example of Pharaoh and say how God hardened his heart yes he had a hard heart but we have to look at it in the context of how God has always been working he never forces anybody with regard to their decisions that is why Salvation is a choice if God wanted in a moment he can force everyone to accept Christ as Messiah why are we going through this passage where the people are arguing and some are saying no he is a sinful man because they are struggling with their choice and God is allowing them to take their time to make their journey with regard to that choice so free will exists and God never overrides the will of man so even though here it says that those who see made blind we have to understand it in the right way it's not that God is forcing them not to believe then let's carry forward carry ahead some of the Pharisees who were with him heard all these things and they said to him are we blind also because they came to know what Jesus is trying to say then Jesus says he says look if you were blind now already he made a statement the those who see they are blind meaning not accepting though the reality is in front of them now he brings in another understanding let us see what that is so the Pharisees ask him are we blind so he tells them look if you were blind you would have no sin but now you say we see therefore your sin remains this also is really something for us to grasp when we know we can just say if you can do good you do it if you know what you need to do you do it if you don't do it if you withdraw then that is sin so in the same way when the Pharisees knew what the scriptures have to say and on top of that Jesus has been explaining himself so clearly to them time and again now what Jesus is saying suppose they did not have knowledge of what is right and they chose wrong that is a different matter because they don't have understanding they are ignorant but in the case of the Pharisees they know so that is why Jesus is saying you are the ones who are claiming we see or you know a lot of things and yet you are not doing it and that is why sin remains in you or you have sinned knowing what is right you are not willing to accept it makes things more complicated so he is warning them in other terms he is warning them and he is telling them you have to be very you know sort of you should wake up because knowingly you are going against God that is a very serious matter so he is awakening them he is warning them these people are headed towards danger so let's carry on from here in this whole passage John 9 is the passage where we have seen a blind man healed from birth he was blind he is healed and the different things that take place after he is healed so now we will continue to chapter 10 this again this wonderful passage the way Jesus was making a case for himself in John 8 when he claimed I am the light and before Abraham was I am in John 10 we have Jesus claims about himself another time so let's see so in the background of whatever has happened with the blind man Jesus begins to make it even more clear who he is he tells the people most assuredly I say to you he who does not enter the sheep fold by the door but climbs up some other way the same is a thief and a robber so he is trying to make an analogy here about the care taking of sheep so when you look at sheep they are very simple creatures they are usually seen as gullible gullible means too innocent any creature can lead them away maybe attack them kill them so they need a shepherd to protect them they need a shepherd to guide them they need a shepherd to show them where green pastures are basically they need a shepherd to take care of them so using this analogy Jesus is talking about God and about those who believe the people who believe in God and he starts painting this picture he says when there is this sheep pen where the sheep are kept the owner the shepherd there is no need for the shepherd to jump over the wall and enter that pen he can directly enter through the door the only person who jumps into any compound is a robber or a thief but the shepherd of the sheep enters through the door that is understandable because he owns the place and he does not have to hide so he enters through the door to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out so he says that for the shepherd the door will be open he says the doorkeeper opens and some people have said the doorkeeper here refers to the Holy Spirit but here we understand what he is trying to get at basically the entrance or the bold entry that the shepherd can have the thief or the robber cannot have and another thing that we see here is the relationship that the shepherd has with the sheep the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out I don't know if you have seen a video about a shepherd calling out to the sheep in that video I will see if I can find it during the break now what happens is the shepherd just his voice different people use the same command to call the sheep but the sheep doesn't respond but the moment the shepherd speaks the sheep come rushing into the bend they follow the command of the shepherd so that shows us a relationship without relationship how can the sheep know the shepherd's voice so what Jesus was trying to say is he is trying to say that those who believe in God we know God's voice when God is speaking to us now the Pharisees they are claiming that they know God they are claiming that they can see they are claiming that all scripture is theirs but when God is in Jesus Jesus is speaking they are not able to relate they are not able to hear God's voice in that sense that is what Jesus is coming at so he is saying the sheep hear the voice and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them up so that is the personal relationship between the shepherd and the sheep the sheep can hear his voice and the shepherd is so caring that he individually takes care of every believer by name so God doesn't say that I am so busy taking care of the world I don't know who are you I don't know it's not like that but he knows every person individually he knows his own sheep by name and he leads them up so a personal relationship is maintained with God and he says when he brings out his own sheep before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice so same thing strong close relationship between God and his people and God leads the people the people recognize when God is speaking and now he says these sheep or God's people they will not follow the voice of anyone else or the term stranger is used here they will run away if a stranger tries to instruct them so basically Jesus was trying to say that by now Pharisees you should have heard the voice of God but they are not able to hear God's voice and you are pretending as if it's a stranger who is speaking to you but the true sheep they would have understood by now that this voice which is revealing the Messiah to them is the true voice of God and they would believe and the sheep will not believe any other person so that is the context in which Jesus tries to introduce himself we will see later that he is the good shepherd at this point I think we will pause any thoughts any questions anything that you want to add to what we have been saying so far the blind men we have seen right so anything with regard to that ok just hold on let me try to share that video I don't know if there will be audio available on my thing but let's see ok I am sharing my screen please let me know whether you can hear the audio can you hear everyone or you can't hear ok ok ok I can just tell you that what they are trying to do is they are trying to have different people call the sheep so just observe that I think that will give you an idea I will start it again I think you got the concept the people who called earlier was ok so the people who called earlier were others but when the farmer called the sheep actually came so I don't get that option I don't know why so that's the reason I wasn't able to share my audio what I do is I will share this link with all of you maybe in your break you can just quickly have a look at it ok alright let's go for a break class we will come back and we will continue with the rest thank you