Thursday, July 14, 2016

Unbelief is Irrational (John 9:25-30)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/14/2016 7:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Unbelief is Irrational

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 9:25-30

            Message of the verses:  “25 He then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 So they said to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 28 They reviled him and said, "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 is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.”

            As I think about this man who had been born blind and had never seen anything before Jesus healed his eyes, and I can imagine that when he woke up the next day how amazed he must have felt as he opened his eyes and could see.  I am sure that he appreciated his eyesight more than I do as it is one thing that I take for granted.  However the first day after he awakens he has to go to see the Pharisees and actually be on trial before them, but as we read this man was beginning to have his spiritual eyes opened as he more than held his own against the “learned men.”

            I just love the answer that this man gave to the Pharisees in verse 25 as he truly was saying what was on his mind when he tells the Pharisees that “once I was blind, but now I see,” and there is a lot packed into those words for sure, especially when one looks at them in their spiritual content which speaks of all who have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  John MacArthur writes that this man “ignored their biased dilemma and declared the uncomplicated truth—Jesus definitely healed him.”

            I guess the Pharisees were so stunned by this man’s answer that they began to cover ground they had covered before by asking the man to once again tell them how he gained his sight perhaps thinking he may change his story.

            The man’s answer shows that he was not going to be intimidated by these men for after all he had been blind for as long as he was alive and now he could see again and he surely was not going to forget how he gained his sight so he tells them “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again?”  Then he asked them if they wanted to become disciples of Jesus which surely struck a nerve with them.

            There answer was actually not the truth as they said that they were disciples of Moses and we have been over that ground before when Jesus told the Pharisees that if they were disciples of Moses that they would have believed Him for Moses spoke of Him, so truth be known they were not disciples of Moses.

            MacArthur concludes “The beggar’s rejoinder was devastating:  ‘Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.’  Jesus was able to do what only God’s power can do, to heal congenital blindness and create new, seeing eyes, yet the religious authorities claimed to be totally ignorant of His origin.  Such was the irrational folly that resulted from their stubborn rejection of the facts.  It has been this way ever since among those who know the gospel truth and cling to their sin and unbelief.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Picking up on that last statement by MacArthur I attended a Bible study yesterday morning and one of the men there was commenting on what some people (obviously unbelievers) were saying about the building of the ark, which is a replica of Noah’s ark which not is a part of the Creation Museum.  Comments like these people are crazy for believing in things like this and the money should have been used to feed the poor.  Seems like I have heard that one before by the man who betrayed our Lord, and so my point is that people have not changed, unbelievers still act like unbelievers and always will.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have to remember where I came from, as like the man born blind, I too was born spiritually blind and so I can understand why people think like they do and I need to have compassion for them.

Memory verses for the week:  (Romans 6:1-3) “1.  What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  2.  May it never be!  How shall we who died to sin still live in it?  3. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “By the rivers of water.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who suggested to make tabernacles for Jesus, Moses and Elijah?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/14/2016 8:12 AM 

     

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