Pastor Ralph Douglas West - Out of the Night, Into The Light | John 9:1-12

0:16 John chapter 9. We're moving on up. We're a week away from Jesus entering into Jerusalem. so the sermon this morning is going to be about three and a half hours long just made some of your guests really nervous John 9 beginning at verse 1 and concluding at verse 12.

1:02 This text is tailored to teach us about out of the night and into the light. As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples ask him, Rabbi, who sent this man or his parents that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.

1:57 While I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. Go, he told him, wash in the pool of Siloam. This word means sent.

2:21 So the man went and washed and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg? Some claimed that he was Others said no, he only looks like him But he himself insisted, I'm the man How then were your eyes open, they asked. He replied, the man they called Jesus made some mud, put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash, so I went and washed, and then I could see. Where is this man? They ask him.

3:14 I don't know. This is the word of God. You may be seated. There are statements that Jesus makes throughout the Gospel of John. There are signs, those of you that's been reading have identified several of them, where these signs point to the glory of God. The other times Jesus make these statements that we have preserved for the church, we call them the I am statements. In the next chapter, he'll refer to himself as I am the shepherd.

4:00 He's spoken of himself as I am the bread, I am the water. And here Jesus speaks of himself emphatically, I am myself the light. he says this after he has set free a woman who when the religion community wanted to condemn her says there is no condemnation from my lips on your life go and live a new life the location of this story takes place in Herod's temple, or should I say outside of it.

4:46 And in verse one, you pick up something as Jesus is going along. Have you noticed that in the scripture, Jesus is always going somewhere? and as he's going along it says John writes he saw a blind man this is very important you miss that one phrase and then the story lose its sting I know what you're about to say you're right that there are other blind stories preserved in the scriptures. You're absolutely right. But none like this one.

5:33 None has been written in literature up to this point. There's no story comparable to it in the Old Testament or the New Testament quite like this story. I'm aware of bottom ends. I'm also aware of the two blind men that are at the edge of the city of Jericho or Jerusalem depending on who's telling the story I'm aware of that And in the telling of the story, it depends on what the emphasis is going to be. and Jesus does something he says as he was passing by he saw a blind man those of you who are note takers that's depth perception perception Jesus is not casually glancing at this person he's looking intently at this person and says this guy is different from all the other people that I have encountered that was blind. Everybody else became blind. Glaucoma got a hold of them. Their vision gradually dissipated or cataracts. There are no optometrists to move these scales from a person's eyes. There are no liquid solutions to flush this deterioration that collects on the eyes affects the retina.

7:28 These people go blind, we say. but here's somebody that's born blind and that's a tough case come on if you had sight one time you might get sight again but if you never had it you lack all of the biological what is it physiological anatomical, what is it? You lack all of that to get your sight because you never had it.

8:09 And Jesus sees this person and says, and they were blind from their birth. The disciples then ask a question and you can tell they've been around religious people.

8:31 How did it get like this? And then they ask a sociological question. Is this a result of something their mama and daddy did? I want to set some of you free this morning because you did the best you I mean you've done it You say, I don't know how my son or daughter turned out like this. And you carry the blame. People put the blame on you. I don't know, I never taught them that. They were never reared that way. I don't know how they got like that.

9:24 I've been looking at the BMF documentary. It's a fascinating story when you look at it historically and look at the social complexities that helped develop these two brothers that grew up in Detroit after the bustle. And some of us are old enough to remember when Detroit was a mecca city to go live in because of its steel and its automobile industry. and the mother makes it very clear and they do too Meech says it in the interview I didn't come out of an abusive home things were just so dark and so despairing I didn't want to live like that I didn't want to live like that Thank you.

10:23 daughter is interesting it's amazing i was talking about jesus you didn't say nothing i said bmf you sat right up It's okay. fascinating documentary all of the religious and theological associations that's involved in it more than drugs more than money but it was the parental note in that that I thought very interesting the mother says no I right on them I didn't know I didn't know and I thought about John 9 Who did this? is this the result of the parents who sinned that's what the disciples ask i love the church now you have to remember for those of you that don't know who i am i have spent my entire adult life as a pastor of a church my sons have said to me the one thing that we pray for Daddy the older he gets That he doesn't become cynical Because after a while Life can make you cynical If you're not careful I haven't got to it yet but I tell you I've been at the edge don't push me because I'm close to the edge I'm trying not to yeah sometimes it makes me wonder yeah you got it I mean it's a question that you ask.

12:15 You ask it the day that you woke up to the report. in Charleston, South Carolina, in a Bible study where a young man who happened to be white was invited into a bible study that turns out into one of the gruesome massacres in recent history And you had to ask yourself, well who sinned?

12:57 His mama, daddy, him? I don't have to reach back that far for weeks ago we were stunned all of us to see those handsome young black police officers Murder a young black boy, helpless, defenseless. I mean they really act like a mob, a vigilante. Police are trained, they know better than that And just in the street, you know When somebody is helpless You say, oh that bird ain't got no fight in him who sinned they had to get that from their mama and daddy and that ain't always the case I'm trying to free some mom and daddy up right now because you're saying what did I do wrong you ain't done nothing wrong It could be environmental, it could be associational, you don't know.

14:21 some of you have aspirations now and this ain't happening as fast as you want and you're between whether I'm going to step stay inbound with law and order morals and ethics I'm going to step out of it who said Thank you. and Jesus hears the disciples who asked this and this is what he said it's one of the rare occasions that Jesus actually answers directly typically Jesus can be very subversive in the way that he addressed your questions. If you're not careful, you can ask Jesus something and he'll say this to you. Well, what are you going to do about it?

15:31 Stay with me. I'm almost through. And Jesus said, neither the mother or the father, the parents don't have nothing to do with this. This has happened to this man for one reason That God be glorified Now for those of you Who are not conversing with the scriptures And you're not a Christian And you're listening And you've been drug here today Are y'all gonna break up?

16:11 Or be put out? Very seriously This story is not to answer All of your questions This is not a panacea This is not a cure-all, okay? You don't take the scripture and try to apply it to every situation of life. Here Jesus is saying simply this, neither to your question of what happened to this young man, it has nothing to do with what you think. This is not evolutionary theory. This is not academic anthropology. This is not about philosophical speculation This is a situation that is sui generis It's just a once in a lifetime situation That while I was passing by Leaving the location of Herod's temple A depth by depth perception I saw a man that had been blind And this man I noticed had been blind from birth This is a good setup for me to show you what the power of God looks like.

17:22 And why are you always interested in what happened to somebody else? Why are you not thinking, God, that the Lord has given you eyes to see where? And so the man is blind. that's why I ask you and I know those who've been reading through the Bible because last week your track you were in the gospel of John and so you started picking up in the gospel just reading it you say I see something in this and one of the things that John wants us to see is to be able to see.

18:12 John chapter three, Nicodemus, Nick at night, comes to Jesus, and what does he say? Except you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God, and if you don't see, you can't see not only the kingdom, you can't see the king of the kingdom. I came to my own and my own received me not. I know this story Messes up your Casting blame on somebody else You just own it I'm my own problem Well what's wrong with him So that God can be glorified How in the world is God Going to be glorified through this It's in the first verse born blind from birth.

19:07 He had never seen a morning glory. He had never seen the majestic king of the night settle for the evening or the queen to take a stroll at night or the diamonds to dazzle in the darkness. He never saw a blade of emerald grass or crimson rose budding. If you ain't never seen it, you ain't never missed it. He had never seen a reflection of himself. He didn't know who he was. Or what he looked like. Nobody remembered. But one thing, whatever blindness is, he was that. But he had adjusted to that because there's no other thing that he knows to do. I am so grateful to have been born when I was born. I was born right at the middle of the 20th century.

20:04 And to live into the first decades of the 21st century, my life has been nothing short of exciting. I have seen it. Yeah, I remember listening to music on a reel of a reel. I remember the big thing was if you got a RCA portable radio listen to KYOK or KCOH Houston I remember a track disc that you put in the car or then it got sophisticated you could play it at home and if it started whooping you could take a piece of paper push it to the side lean it up and make it play right And then we got cassette tapes. And then I was mad when we got DVDs, CDs, VHS.

21:02 I saw all of that with my own eyes. My grandson has been born in the technical revolution. I've never one time given him a lesson on how to use an iPhone or iPad Not one time. And when I see them little fingers, That's right. That's right. That's right. And then he says, you don't know how to do that. He didn't know because he had never been exposed to that. And Jesus says, so that God may be glorified.

22:01 you stop straining like you don't know what I'm talking about that I'm gonna tell you that gets on my nerves because you are John chapter 9 you have seen in your own life what God can do with an impossible situation And so I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, while it's night. No one can work.

22:42 We know blindness. We know blindness other than physical occurrences that's a line from Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. That there's blindness other than physical blindness. There's spiritual blindness and moral blindness and ethical blindness.

23:08 We see these blindnesses all around us because of those blindnesses we don't talk about in the 21st century we're not talking about rumors of wars we're talking about wars. And can you believe that top of the gender in America poverty is still rampant can you believe in America in America the place where where evangelicals always talk about God bless America and God's country can you believe that we still have people in the name of Jesus that vote down health care and decent housing and draw lines so that people live in disadvantages? but you do that when you can't see oh you know here's something else make me sick I know that we got a highly educated y'all got money and you live in great places but you ain't always live like that And the only reason why the Lord Let you be where you are Is so you can reach back To help somebody else get where you are And it ain't never fun when you the only somebody in the room that got something.

24:41 Fun happens when everybody can share in the American dream. Preach Pastor West. Now you're mad because you agree with the people that say now he's being woke. I ain't never been asleep. Woke is a social, sociopolitical construct the same way that race is. And whenever the powerful constructs something. Unfortunately, too many of us believe it. I'm gonna ask you a quick what's wrong with me saying that I want to see poor people not be poor what's wrong with me saying I don't want to see children go to bed hungry at night don't get mad at me get mad at Jesus he the one that said that the kingdom is going to be decided on this not what political party you are part of I want to know this when I was hungry did you feed me when I was in prison did you visit me when I was sick did you have health care for me and that's what Jesus said look you worried about the wrong thing I must work the works of him, God the Father who sent me while I'm alive, the day coming when I'm going to go to the cross and I can't do that but I'm going to leave the gift of the Holy Spirit with you to empower you to go into the world and make a difference.

26:45 And so today we ought to be asking God, open my eyes that I might see. that I might see. I'm done now. I'm done. And so Jesus healed the man dramatically. I'm just moving on now. He healed the man. And then when he got healed, now here's the other side. You got the disciples asking who sinned. And now that the man is healed, You got the religious people saying, who did it? Who cares? The man can see.

27:35 All of this is an entrapment to discredit Jesus. that's why I ask you those who've been reading John because this is part of his identity his authority chapter 8 the last verses that's what they're dealing with and so in chapter 9 this is a demonstration of his authority and then when the question is asked about who did this they're going back now again to say give me his identity what are you accrediting this to divinity can we question his authority and and here's something I wish that we could get back to more testimony because testimony is never at the mercy of your argument.

28:31 Testimony. And I've been some people recently who have done some serious writing about testimony, the power of testimony. John D. Mangrum who trained me as a young preacher in the field of religion said before he folded his tent he ended his career at Jarvis Christian College and he said I wish that I would have placed more emphasis on testimony you know what testimony is you telling people out loud what you believe God has done for you. And the reason is because the smarter you get academically, the more likely you are to push God out of your narrative.

29:33 Because when you start talking about God and the supernatural, it makes you sound too elementary, sophomoric. I was asked in a religion department, and a room full of scholars, Ralph, do you believe in healing? I knew where I was and I knew the company that I was with. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family. I didn't want to embarrass God. I didn't want to embarrass y'all. So I had to think heavy on how do I respond to a critique of healing in 2023 in regard to supernatural intervention.

30:27 And they phrase it this way, well Ralph, you are a pastor. Do you believe in divine healing? And I knew where I was and I know who I am. So I worked out this particular paragraph. And this is what it sounds like. Ralph, do you believe in divine supernatural healing in a religion department among scholars? My paragraph. Yes, period.

31:10 Yes, period. I believe it in the pulpit. I believe it at the university. I believe it at the divinity school. I believe it in theological seminaries. I believe if God can call the world into existence out of nothing, the Lord can handle whatever your situation is to. I'm done now. My time is up. But you get the idea. That's why he did it. And we need testimony for people to stand up unashamed. To sit down and say as crazy as this might be. I know what the Lord has done for me. and so they said well well well who did it then you can't miss this because this is the whole story this has been the failure of healings in america is that once a healing takes place we want to credit it to the person on stage the man said They want to know, well, who did it?

32:30 He said, I don't know. Some man named Jesus did it. I didn't go looking for him. I didn't go asking for it. All I know is that while he was passing by, he saw my condition. And the next thing you know, I'm washing in a pool that I've never washed in. And when I came back, my eyes were open. I didn't know what I was looking at because I had never seen it before. People had to tell me that's a tree, that's a rock, that's a stone, that's a cloud. I don't know. Here's my first. All I know is that I was blind, but now I see. And that's what we ought to sometimes say around our children, said around our friends that I don't have all of the answer. All I know is that somebody named Jesus Mary's baby.

33:31 All I know is Joseph's son. All I know is the disciples Lord. All I know is that Abraham's sacrifice and Isaac's ram and Jacob's star and Samuel's Ebenezer. All I know is somebody named Jesus Alpha and Omega First and Last, Beginning and Ending. All I know is somebody named Jesus King of Kings and Lord of Lords got a hold of me. That's all I know. I was blind, but now I see it. And you can't make me shut up about that. I got to tell somebody what the Lord has done for me. You can laugh at me.

34:25 You can walk out the door and say, that's silly. But wait till your day come. Because everybody got to call on him sometimes. And when we call out here the good line, Savior, do not pass me by. While on others, thou art calling. Dude, now! Cast me back! God can call us out of the night into the light. I know I got a witness here. You remember when the Lord called you out of darkness. Out of the night into the light. Who did it?

35:17 Some man named Jesus. Bread when I'm hungry and water when I'm thirsty. I don't know everything I need to know about it, but I know this, he's a savior. He's a healer. He's a deliverer. And I really believe right now, the reason why churches in America are in decline and churches in the global south is on the rise is because they don't have what we have. They don't have accessibility to hospitals and doctors and medicine and security and attorneys. And so when they get in trouble, they got to call on the name of the Lord. I think if we return to that, something will happen around us. I tell them, I got insurance. I do, I got insurance.

36:12 I got doctors. I got to talk to them. I talk to doctors throughout the year. But I let them do what they can do. But when it's all over with, I got a doctor. I got the doctor. I got a divine physician. And he's the one whose my life is in his hand.

36:36 All I know, the boy said, I couldn't see. I was blind. But now, I see. Lord open our eyes that we may see sin and its ugliness Satan in his gruesomeness but the Savior in his glory even today for those of us in Christ in the church who are battling with conditions beyond the doctor's control I'm dead. give us the grace that we need for the living of these days we're not ashamed we're not afraid to say give healing healing to the body you made us and we believe that you're able to do it without any buts attached to it and if you choose not to heal then give us the grace we need.

37:58 Give us the strength. Give us the peace that we need for the living of these days. Hallelujah. There are people here today, Lord, they came just because their husband, their wife, their partner, their friend said, come to church. They didn't want to come.

38:25 And like that blind man, they're saying, I came here blind. But now I see, I can't explain it all, but something's happening. Even now for them, when the door of the church is open, don't let them sit there and don't let Satan get the victory in their life. Let them get up like the rest of us. and just simply say I don't have all the answers and let them know that we live a life, we live a life of faith where we don't know all the answers. We come to know you more and more day by day.

39:04 But let them know that you're able to snatch them from the hands of the enemy and put them in your hands. We pray for children now. We pray for our children first but we pray for children in our community and in our neighborhood. We pray for their deliverance now. that we see so much spirit of gangsterism and thugism and those beautiful young men and young women turning their life in the wrong direction thinking that it's glamorous and if they survive to find out that all of what we do now affects what's going to happen next 20, 30, 40 years. We pray deliverance now in the name of Jesus.

40:03 And then Lord, for those of us whose children are in church in the Christ, we pray, Lord, don't let us get arrogant. Because we know that all of us are just one decision away from making a mess out of our whole lives. So today we pray, Lord, your presence and your power upon our church, upon our families, on our mothers, our fathers, our sons and our daughters in the name of Jesus. There are a lot of other things I need to be praying about today. But you know my heart and you know the heart of this congregation. Fill in the empty blanks of our petition according to your will and God's people say together, Amen. Give God praise today all over the building. I'm asking not to walk out now. Let's rejoice right now.

40:57 And let's watch God go to work. The door of the church is open. Wherever you are seated or standing, get up from that seat. Come down the aisle and receive the grace that God has made available for you today. Come on, we're waiting on you. The choir, sing it, sing it. Like you want somebody to get up from that seat. And come down the aisle. I see the first one. God bless you. Come on, we're waiting on you. I see you. God bless you. Hallelujah.

41:37 Welcome to the church. I see you. And I see you coming. What a joy. Welcome. Come on.