This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our look together at John chapter 9 in Daily Drive Time Devotions.
We're going to look at verses 24 to 34 today, our fourth day of our look through
this chapter. We're talking about the conflict that came out of Jesus' healing
of a man that was blind from birth.

And we're talking about what keeps us from seeing spiritually. Now at the end of
the chapter, tomorrow we're going to talk about what causes us to see
spiritually. But first we see some things that keep us from seeing spiritually.

Doubt that never gets past the questions, that keeps us from seeing spiritually.
Pride that never admits itself, that keeps us from seeing spiritually. And fear
that never finds the freedom of Christ's love, that keeps us from seeing
spiritually.

And today we're going to look at part two of the reaction of the Pharisees, the
conflict with the Pharisees that came out of this healing. And as we look at
their reaction, we're going to see the blinding danger of prejudice. 24 to 34
today, let me read all of those verses.

Second time they, the Pharisees, summoned the man who had been blind. "Give
glory to God," they said, "we know this man is a sinner. " He replied, "whether
he is a sinner or not, I don't know.

One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see. " Then they asked him, "what
did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?

" He answered, "I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to
hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?

" Then they hurled insults at him and they said, "you are this fellow's
disciple. We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for
this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from.

" The man answered, "now that is remarkable. You don't know where he comes from
and yet he opened my eyes? We know that God does not listen to sinners.

He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening
the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do
nothing.

" To this they replied, "you were steeped in sin at birth. How dare you lecture
us? " And they threw him out.

What keeps them from saying? Prejudice. Prejudging this person, prejudging what
God can do.

We know, they said, nothing could change their mind. Not even a miracle.
Prejudice.

In fact, their prejudice is so deep. Did you catch what happened early in this
conversation? They say, "give glory to God, call Jesus a sinner.

" Give glory to God, call God a sinner? If they even had a sense of what they
were saying in that moment, they would have fallen over as dead men. That's how
deep their prejudice was.

They couldn't see the truth. In fact, as you look at what happened in this
conversation, you see the characteristics of prejudice, which you can recognize
in other people's lives, but the question is, are you willing to look for it in
your own life? You see that prejudice is ignorant, it's insulting, and it's
irrational.

Prejudice is ignorant. They were completely confident of total lies. And then,
even in this conversation, when the man says to them that by their own beliefs,
Jesus must be God, he shows them their own ignorance, their response is typical
of prejudice.

When somebody's prejudice, and you show them this is an ignorance, what do they
do? Do they say, "well, let me think about that? " Not if you want to stay in
your prejudice.

The next thing you move to is you become insulting. When someone disagrees with
you, instead of listening, you say what they said, "how dare you? How dare you
question my beliefs?

" It's ignorant, it's insulting, and it's also irrational. How dare you? You
were steeped in sin at birth.

What an insulting comment, but what an irrational comment. If this man really
were born in sin, that would have meant that Jesus had to forgive that sin in
order to heal him, which only God could do. So even by this charge that they
made, they were saying themselves that Jesus had to be God in order to heal you.

You see, prejudice is an emotion that's irrational. You just get stuck in the
same circle again and again, ignorant, insulting, irrational, then back to your
ignorance, then insulting, then irrational. If you see this pattern happening in
your life, or the life of somebody you love, recognize it as a prejudice.

We all have prejudices, and when I say the word prejudice, I know it's an
emotionally laden word. We think of civil rights, we think of prejudice towards
this race or that race, and you may have a struggle there, but you also may have
a different kind of prejudice. You may have a prejudice toward a certain person,
this individual.

You may have a prejudice toward a certain denomination of Christians. You may
have a prejudice toward a certain way that God wants to work in your life.
Prejudice can take all kinds of shapes and forms.

It's interesting as you look at this conversation that this man has with the
Pharisees. It's really a two-part conversation. In the first part that we looked
at yesterday, they seem to have the upper hand, but in the second part, he seems
to have the upper hand.

He sees, and they don't see. In his answer to them, he gives one of the most
classic answers in all of the New Testament. They ask, "Give glory to God.

We know this man's a sinner," and he says, "Whether he's a sinner or not, I
don't know. One thing I do know, and then here's the answer. Once I was blind,
but now I see.

" There it is. All your explanations, he's saying, they cannot change this
simple fact. Once I was blind, but now I see.

No matter how tightly you shut your eyes, it's still light outside. Now I see.
You see, the person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person who has
only an argument.

They were trying to argue with him. He was saying, "I can see I'm standing right
in front of you. " Really as you look at this chapter, the roles are completely
reversed.

The man began as a blind man, but here we have the Pharisees. The Pharisees were
the blind men bluffing at a relationship with God, while the blind man is the
one who can see clearly, who can see spiritually. Once I was blind, but now I
see.

What does that mean? That phrase that is so ingrained in our minds? It means a
couple of things in your life spiritually.

First it means that you can stop being spiritually blind. There can be a moment
in every one of our lives when you can stop being spiritually blind. John Newton
immortalized these words, this moment in his famous hymn, "Amazing Grace.

" I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. A former slave
trader who saw something new, something spiritually, and his life was entirely
changed and transformed by the love of Jesus Christ.

If you think that you're above that, if you think that you're below that, Jesus
Christ can bring spiritual sight to every one of our lives. So first you stop
being spiritually blind. That's probably happened to many of you that are
listening to this study today, but maybe not to you yet.

Maybe as you think about your life, you think, "That's not really happened to
me. I've studied about God. I know there is a light, but I don't think I've ever
seen spiritually.

" Where do you start? You start by asking him to help you to see, depending on
him. First you stop being spiritually blind by your trust in the forgiveness and
the leadership of Jesus Christ in your life, in a relationship with him.

Not studying him, but commitment to him. And then you live life based on what
you now see. That's where a lot of us mess up as believers.

Once we were blind, but now we see. But we live life based on what somebody else
sees, somebody else tells us to do, what the crowd is doing. Live life based on
what you can now see.

Now I know you can't see everything. The Bible says we now see through a glass
darkly. You can't see everything, but you can see more than enough to take the
next step that God wants you to take.

I would say as we talk about what you now see spiritually, in fact I wrote this
in my quiet time notes about John chapter 9 a number of weeks ago. I wrote down,
"Lord, it's all too easy to focus on what I don't see as yet. On the fact that I
see through a glass darkly.

That I see through the reality of the evil and the trials and the temptations
and the struggles that are a part of this life and this world before I get to
heaven. " But then I wrote, "Lord, I choose this morning to focus instead on
what I do see because of your grace. A love and a life that I would never have
experienced.

Would never have even begun to understand except that you opened my eyes. " Keep
your eyes on Jesus. There is more than enough light there for the rest of your
life.

Now, you want to live the kind of life that Jesus has set before you? You want
to be a great witness for Christ and let other people see what God has done in
your life? There's no better example than this man.

Once I was blind, but now I see. In fact, even right now as we pray today, I'd
like to encourage you in your mind in this prayer time with Jesus to make a list
in your mind of the ways that he has done that in your life. As you pray, just
say, "Jesus Christ, remind me.

Remind me of those times, those places in my life where once I was blind, but
now I see. Or once I had a prejudice, but you've released me from that
prejudice. Where once I had a habit that was eating up my life, but you've given
me freedom from that habit.

Or once I lived in fear and I didn't have the strength to take the next step,
but now I see I live in a different way. Or once I lived without love, but now I
live with love. Once I lived without hope, now I live with hope.

Once I was blind, once I didn't have this, but now because of you, Jesus Christ,
now I see. " And express gratefulness. Just say to him, "Jesus Christ, thank
you.

Thank you that because of your love for me, now I see things that I would have
never seen. And above all, now I see your love for me. Thank you.

In your name. Amen. " Don't miss tomorrow.

We're going to look together at the response of the man himself when he finally
reconnects with Jesus.