The Seminary of Personal Encounter

The Seminary of Personal Encounter
Words of Faith 11-22-16
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2016
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
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John 9
[24] A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."
[25] 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!"
[26] Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
[27] He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
[28] Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! [29] We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."
[30] The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. [31] We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. [32] Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. [33] If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
[34] To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

The man born blind was called for a second time before those who opposed Jesus. He was probably called before leaders in the synagogue. If the opponents of Jesus could get the man to recant his testimony or waver even slightly this could be used to discredit Jesus.
Their exhortation to “Give God glory” was a call to come clean and admit that he was lying or mistaken (Josh. 7:19; 1 Sam. 6:5; Jer. 13:16), a sort of charge to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. They argued that Jesus must obviously be a sinner because he had broken the Sabbath, and therefore could not be a prophet or the Messiah.
Imagine the peculiar situation the man born blind found himself in. He did not know who Jesus was, only what He had done. He had not yet even seen Jesus! He had not placed his faith in Jesus. He had simply been the recipient of a remarkable grace that was intended to glorify God. Now he found himself in the middle of a theological debate!
This was not the first theological argument he had been a part of. All his life the man born blind had heard voices in the darkness debate his plight. But now he was no longer in the darkness. He no longer had to wonder about how frightening those detached voices were. For the first time, he could look people straight in the eyes and tell them the truth. "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
When they pressed him further, the man threw the issue back to them in a way that is really quite humorous. "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" The enemies of Jesus were not humored. If they could not get the man to waver, they would insult him and claim their own authority was in Moses.
But the opponents of Jesus actually had a rather formidable debater on their hands. What they had failed to note was that this man had listened to the voices of the theologians all his life. While he had no formal training in the Law, he had heard all the arguments and positional statements before. Suddenly he piped up with a theological argument that would have made any Rabbi proud!
The unschooled man born blind argued that Jesus must be from God precisely because He did a miracle that no one had ever seen before. He argued that Jesus could not be a sinner because according to rabbinic teaching God does not listen to sinners (based on Ps 66:18; Prov 28:9; Isa 1:15). He argued that God listens to the godly man who does his will. Therefore, if Jesus were not from God, he could do nothing.
There must have been a stunned silence. The opponents of Jesus might have asked, “Now what school did you attend to study the Law of Moses?” or “Under which great Rabbi did you sit?” But instead they were incensed that this “unschooled” man would lecture them on the logic of their own rabbinic law. They insulted the man and threw him out of the synagogue.
What a powerful lesson. Now don’t misunderstand. There really is significant value in honest theological study but we see here that such study is no replacement for what the man born blind had to share. He had attended the seminary of personal encounter with God.
The truth is, there is no replacement for having our blind eyes opened by the Master. There is no substitute for the Light that shines into our darkness. This does not mean that we should seek after an “experience” or miracles, but we should listen carefully to the testimony of the man born blind and seek the Master who forever changed his life.

Lord, I want to know You and only You. Open my eyes that I may see Your truth. Open my ears that I may hear Your voice. Open my heart that I may respond in obedience. In Jesus’ name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2002, 2016
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.