This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions. This is our look together
through John chapter 9 verses 8 to 12 today, our second day of looking through
this chapter of Jesus' healing of the blind man and how God develops faith in
all of our lives. First Jesus heals and then comes the reaction, then comes the
conflict.

This is a chapter all about conflict. Today we're going to look at the immediate
reaction of the people. The rest of the week we're going to look at the reaction
of the Pharisees, the parents and then the man himself.

But today we focus on the immediate reaction of the crowd, the people that were
around this man. Verses 8 to 12, let me read those verses for you. 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 am the man. " "How then when your eyes opened?

" They demanded. He replied, "The man they called Jesus made some mud and put it
on my eyes. He then told me go salome and wash.

So I went and I washed and then I could see. " "Where is this man? " They asked.

"I don't know," he said. It's an interesting exchange, isn't it? And it's all
about what keeps us from seeing.

As you look at this crowd, the conflict that came in, they should have been
rejoicing. They should have been dancing in the streets. This man they knew,
their neighbor, they watched him beg for years, some of them.

They should have been at the height of their spiritual joy, but instead they're
expressing their spiritual doubt. And it's one of the things that keeps us from
seeing. Our doubt, our unsatisfied, our unquestioned doubt keeps us from seeing.

These people couldn't believe it had happened because it never had happened
before. So they let their experience determine their idea of what was possible.
They said this couldn't be him.

It has to be somebody who looks like him. I just want to sort of an aside here.
It's convicting to me personally that although he was their neighbor, they
didn't recognize him.

This was a man who they had passed day after day after day, some of them begging
in the streets because he was blind, and they didn't recognize him. Why is that
convicting to me? Because it's easy to ignore those who are suffering.

It's easy in my busyness. It's easy in your busyness to just rush right by
suffering people. And so when this man who they'd seen every day who was their
neighbor is healed, some of them don't even recognize him because they hadn't
looked at him.

In fact, they probably looked away from him as they passed by him day after day
after day. What keeps us from seeing? Doubt.

We live in the dark because we've convinced ourselves that light is impossible.
That's what's happening here. Is reconciliation in your marriage possible?

Is a relationship with God, a fresh, real relationship with God, possible? Is
forgiving another person possible? Is a new direction for your life possible?

If you convinced yourself that light is impossible, of course you're going to
live in the dark. I would just say don't let your past blind you to the
possibilities of what God can do in your life. Just notice the questions of this
crowd.

Isn't this the man? How are you healed? Where is Jesus?

First they ask, "Who is this the guy? " And then once he says, "Yes, I am the
guy," they ask, "How? " It's interesting.

In this chapter, four different times, this man is asked by different people,
"How in the world did this happen? " They have a lot of questions, but just in
the way the crowd is asking these questions, you can tell they're not really
looking for answers. It's more like accusations.

It's more like cementing their doubt. And the truth is, for me and you both, we
always stay in our doubt. Don't miss this.

We always stay in our doubt when we use questions in the wrong way. When I use
questions, when you use questions and you're not looking for answers, you're
just looking to condemn, you're just looking to challenge, you're just looking
to be sarcastic, you're just looking to hide. When we use questions in the wrong
way, we always stay in our doubt.

We all know what it is to hide behind a question we really don't want answered,
like, "Why me, Lord? " Or, "Where were you when I needed you, God? " Do you
really want God to answer that question?

Do you? Then listen, because the answer might surprise you. Sometimes we ask
questions and we really don't want to hear the answer, because we don't want to
be surprised.

We just want to stay stuck where we are. Now, as they're asking these questions,
this man gives them an answer. In verse 11, we hear his testimony.

He says, very simply, "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. " That's his testimony.

Very simple. As I read that testimony, there are three really good things about
this testimony of this man. Number one, he didn't confuse methods with miracles.

He didn't in any way give credit to the mud that Jesus put on his eyes. There's
some miraculous mud found somewhere in this city. I've got to find it again.

It's interesting. If you do a study of the New Testament, the different methods
that Jesus used in healing, he was fond of using different methods. Sometimes he
healed a blind man with just a word.

Other times, in one case, he healed a couple of people that were blind and they
began to see slowly. First, they saw people like they were trees and then they
could see more and more clearly. And then there's this man.

He heals him by putting mud on his eyes and telling him to go and wash. I've
always wondered what it would be like if these people who Jesus had healed in
different ways had had a convention at some later point in life and talked about
how Jesus heals blind people. One group would say, "Oh, he heals instantly with
just a word.

" Other would say, "No, he heals slowly. You blurred seeing and then you can see
more and more. " And then others would say, "Oh, no, no.

He heals with mud. " That would be the "Here's mud in your eye" denomination
today. That's how sometimes we get denominations.

We argue about how Jesus did it in my life and he did it a different way in your
life. But the truth of the matter is, the truth of the matter is Jesus did it.
Jesus worked this miracle.

And this man gave credit to Jesus, not the mud. Now, there was, by the way, some
meaning behind this method. By putting mud on the man's eyes, Jesus helped to
enable faith in his life, expectation in his heart.

He gave him a command that needed to be obeyed. That was the meaning that was
here. But Jesus was the one that healed.

He didn't confuse methods with miracles. Another great thing about this
testimony of this man is he didn't mistake his participation for God's power.
There's nothing in his testimony that you feel like, "Look at what I did.

I made it all the way through these city streets, a blind man to go down and
wash in the pool of Saloma, and that is what caused me to be able to see. He
just enabled me to believe in myself like I'd never believed in myself before.
There's nothing of that in this man's testimony.

Instead, he just, in a very simple matter of fact way, says, "Jesus told me to
do this. I did what Jesus told me to do, and then I was able to see. " He didn't
take the credit away from the one who truly deserved credit, and we can do that
sometimes.

There's a warning in this about our testimonies. He didn't mistake his
participation for God's power. The third thing that I see in this man's
testimony, he didn't confuse methods with miracles.

He didn't mistake his participation for God's power. Third thing I see is he
didn't feel the need to sensationalize that which was already awesome. He just
says it in a simple and straightforward way.

The way that this man answered shows that he knew there was something here that
was above and beyond himself. Sometimes when we give a testimony of how God has
worked in our lives, we feel a need to sensationalize, to add this and add that,
to make it so dramatic. This man doesn't tell the story, "Well, I walked through
the streets, and I tripped over this person, and this happened, and finally I
felt I was close to the water, and I got closer and I got closer, and finally as
I got close to the water, I dipped my hand and I could feel the cool water.

I brought it up to my eyes. I washed the mud off. I could feel the mud dripping
down my face, and as it dripped down," well, you get the idea.

I know we all have different personalities. Some of us, when we tell a story,
there's more emotion and drama in it, and some of us, when we tell a story,
there's a more matter-of-fact feel to it. What I love about this man is he
didn't sensationalize it.

He just said, "Here's what Jesus did," and to me, that shows how awesome it
really was. The way that this man answered their questions, for those that would
really listen that day, it was a way that would cause them to be able to end up
with faith. In fact, that's what happened this day.

Some did listen to this man, and they ended up with faith. Others didn't, and
they stayed in their doubt. We've looked at doubt today, the doubt of the crowd
and the answer of the man and his testimony, and I want to encourage you, maybe
you've never done this, or maybe you've not done it in a long time, I want to
encourage you, as you pray today, to talk to God about your doubts.

Just bring them to him. Say, "Jesus Christ, you know I have doubts. I have
doubts because of some struggles that I've been through in my life.

I have doubts because of something that somebody's just said to me about your
word or about you, and I wonder about what's really true. I have doubts that
just hit me sometimes. I know what I believe, but I'm just driving down the
street, and this thought hits me, this doubtful thought.

" God, I have doubts, and I bring them to you. Instead of questioning my doubts
sarcastically and staying in my doubt, I bring this question to you, because I
know you want to answer my doubts. I know you want me to doubt my doubts and to
believe my beliefs, and I pray out of this example that you would strengthen
faith in my life.

Help me not to be afraid of my doubts. Help me to bring them to you. I bring
them to you right now and to look for your answers, and even as I look for your
answers, I realize I won't get everything answered in this world, but I will get
every answer that I need from you.

I trust in you, Jesus Christ. In your name, amen.