John 9 - Logan Pate - September 13, 2026

0:00Good afternoon. Think of me quite a few of you this morning for those of you that don't know me. I'm Logan Payt. Beautiful wife is Laura Sue and our two girls Remy and Quincy Just started over at MSOP Today we're gonna start out over in John 9 That's gonna be mostly where we're where we're leading out of today. We'll float around from there a little bit Get set up here and then naturally coming from MSOP. I'm gonna be Mostly out of the King James version. So I have a couple scriptures that will be over in the new standard, but

1:00And as Jesus passed he saw a man which was blind from his birth and His disciples asked him saying master who did sin this man or his parents That he was born blind Jesus answered neither hath this man sinned nor his parents But that the works of God should be made manifest in him Today we're gonna talk about we're gonna have seven different points to make There is a question Then naturally rises with our pain and suffering Maybe not all of us, but I would dare say a lot of us have a some point in our life Begged the question why?

2:03Why me why now why the suffering? Why would I God put me in this position? There's a lot of questions that come from that from misunderstanding from The suffering we fill the guilt Going back to the text the disciples See the blind man and immediately assume that there must be a reason rooted in guilt Someone must have failed sinned or been at fault to cause such suffering We often assume suffering to be something to escape Something to explain away and sometimes that God must be displeased with us But Jesus reframes this entire conversation he does not explain suffering as punishment he reveals suffering as

3:06Purposeful grounds for God's work As we get into this we are going to go over these six major points investigating Jesus's stamps on pain The first point I have to make Jesus rejects the theology that blames the broken John Nine two through three Going back to Our original Texture and his disciples asked him saying master hooded sin this manner as parents that he was born blind Jesus answered neither has this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifested in him This statement is no small correlation. It's a theoretical Theological earthquake Jesus dismantles the idea that all suffering is a direct result of personal sin

4:13We can find confirmation in that in multiple places throughout the scripture All throughout Job chapter one and two Job suffers not because of his sin, but because of his faithfulness He's he's tested and asked to prove his faithfulness through his suffering In Luke 13 one through five Jesus rejects the idea that tragedy proves guilt and that we are all guilty Let's see Luke 13 one through five there were present at the person some that told him of the Galileeans Who's blood pilot had mingled with their sacrifices and Jesus answering said unto them

5:15Suppose ye that these Galileeans were sinners above all Galileeans Because they suffered such things I tell you nay But accept ye repent ye shall all likewise perish or Those eighteen upon whom the tower of Sloan fell and slew them think ye that They were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem. I tell you nay But accept ye repent ye shall like wise perish This gives us the ideology that we're all sinners it doesn't it doesn't matter Whether one of us has greater sins than the other My point number two suffering can exist long before purpose is revealed and

6:15This was the blind man from birth He was blind from birth A lot of people don't really take the time to think about what that truly means When reading that text we get a lot of the time focused on the actual miracle of of Of Jesus healing him which is absolutely not to be ignored but Looking at his history also gives us the gravity of the situation The blind man has never seen color He's never looked upon the face of his mother. He's never seen the faces of them or those around him And he's never had memories of sight. He was blind from birth. He never remembered what it was like to

7:18See the trees see his family none of that And No, we're in the text does it suggest he understood why God's purpose was unfolding in him from before he was even born Supporting scriptures for that God works in all things for good Romans 8 28 Romans 8 28 and we know that all things work together For good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose If you look at also Isaiah 35 8 through 9 God

8:23God's ways are higher than ours and then Psalm 139 16 God's plans proceed our awareness Psalm 139 16 will flip over there real quick Dine eyes did see my substance yet being Unperfect and in the book all my members were written Which in continuance were fashioned then as yet there was none of them And knowing and nowhere in the text The uncomfortable truth we we face With with that recollection is that purpose does not require our understanding to be real

9:27Our Suffering we don't have to understand it for God to have purpose in it The blind man he had no idea what was the purpose of his suffering until that moment Jesus talked to him and called on him He spent his whole life wondering And God isn't going to wait for us to understand before he sets his plan into motion The blind man suffering was meaningful Long before he was healed My third point Jesus enters the pain He does not just observe it from a distance When we drop down a little farther in John 9 to verse 6 When he had the spoken he spat on the ground and made clay of the Spital and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay

10:31Jesus could have spoken Healing him from afar. He didn't have to Get his hands dirty. He didn't have to go to him. He didn't have to lay hands and On his eyes But instead he he nails he gets his hands dirty and he touches our place of pain And he grows 415 we see how he sympathizes with our weakness He brews 415 For we have not on a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infermities, sorry, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin And then in John 1 14

11:38John 1 14 and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Jesus Suffering is not proof that God is absent Sometimes it's proof that he is near working in deeper ways than we can Then just what we can see A lot of the time we we get into that mentality that When we're going through suffering it's because Of God's absence it's that we can sometimes feel like it's a reflection on our faith That there's a problem with us or with our situation

12:39And there's there's instances where We just don't understand there's some really rough things that people go through and I'm sure a lot of you have been through That we just can't find explanation for sometimes But the point number four healing does not require difficulty It redirects it the miracle did not end the man's hardship After he was healed He Didn't just go on through his life having a perfect life Once he was healed he was actually questioned He was doubted by those around him and not only doubted but he was pressured to deny Christ

13:40And in John 9 34 They knocked they actually kicked him out of town For his faith even though he was he got healed everyone had seen it his neighbors That had known him since since birth that had known he was he was blind, you know, there was It was impossible For to see him with sight and yet They still found a way to blame Christ and ended up kicking him out of town John 9 34 They answered and said unto him Thou was all together born in sins and us thou teach us and They cast him out Verse 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out and when he had found him he said unto him Does thou believe in the Son of God?

14:41He answered and said who is he Lord that I might believe in him and Jesus said unto him Thou has both seen him and is he that talketh with thee and He said Lord I believe and he worshipped him I couldn't imagine Being in that situation being healed in a manner that Was you know never expected going through your whole life with the expectation and Probably the hopelessness that it's never going to be fixed That there's no there's no way out of it. It's something that this is this is what it is This is my life and I need to you know find a way to make the best of it and

15:42being confronted with such a feat of healing and then Asking who is this Lord that use that I've heard of That you're able to do these things through and Finding out that he's standing in front of you that the one that Was able to completely change your life to to Shift your entire existence To have him standing right in front of you. I could not imagine What that must have felt like for him I Want you to notice his response to Those that did have skepticism in John 925

16:47Just a second to get over there He Answered and said whether he is a sinner or not. I don't know One thing I do know that though I was blind now I see Then they said unto him What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes and he answered them? I told you already and you did not listen Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciple? Then they reviled him and said you are his disciple, but we are Moses's disciples We know that God spoke to Moses as for the fellow as for this fellow. We do not know where he is from And the man answered and said to them why this is a marvelous thing That you do not know where he is from yet he has opened my eyes now we know

17:52That God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will then he will hear them Since the world began It has been unheard of that anyone opened eyes of one who was born blind If this man were not from God he could do nothing and they answered and said to him You were completely born and sent and are you teaching us and they cast him out? There is a Lot of power and testimony If it is about the power of Christ and not centered on ourselves

18:52God often allows for our suffering So that our faith is not just Theoretics but physical Visible and more deeply meaningful Adaring invitation to shift the view Suffering as assignment Jesus says in 9-4 I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day Suffering does not pause God's mission it advances it I Personally ask you today when you go through suffering to try and shift your manner of this thinking From why did he do this to me? To what can I do for him? How can I be used to spread the glory of God through my suffering? Suffering is not just something to endure but something through which God intends to work through us

19:58To deepen our compassion to mature our faith and to point others to faith Turning over to James chapter one verses two through four James one two through four Count it all joy my brothers When you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness And let steadfastness have it's a full effect That you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing God doesn't give us a rejection of pain. He gives us a rejuvenation of the soul I do not recall ever learning from the scripture

21:01that Our lives we're going to be without transgression or without pain without suffering The life of a Christian is not the easy path It is the straight and narrow it is something that Not many people choose to take and it is a choice. It's something we have to choose to take And it's not an easy road. It's it's something that Takes work takes out effort and takes perseverance A little bit later Jesus finds this man again in John 35 38

22:04The man does not just receive sight he received revelation He says Lord I believe and he worshiped him Our physical healing is fade with time Our sufferings come and go healing comes and go But our spiritual sight lasts forever this miracle Points to the gospels in John 812 Jesus is the light of the world In 812 Jesus spoke Jesus again unto them saying I am the light of the world He that follow with me shall not walk in darkness But shall have the light of life And every believer is a form of this blind man who has been seen by Christ and rejuvenated

23:10At one point or other in our life We answered the call to To Christ and to be baptized to put on his blood and Up into that point We were Blind going through life Going through our suffering without understanding without purpose um And that blood that That he gave us and he shed for us Was the blood that opens our eyes The blind man didn't choose his suffering But God chose how it would end Some of you still may be in the middle of his story Asking yourself why and still waiting for clarity

24:14Whether it's with or through God or not But God wastes nothing He doesn't waste tears. He doesn't waste time And he doesn't waste pain. He works through all of these things And one day we may look back and realize what you thought was meaningless suffering Was actually sacred ground for God's glory The world may be looking at you You may be looking at you wondering why would God do this to me? But God works with purpose. He doesn't just patronize us We're not and some to his magnifying glass where his children We need to trust him find his glory and purpose in times of hardship And if you have not found him in your life yet I ask what you're waiting for

25:16If there's something holding you back Because this entire time Through our suffering through all of our decisions our shortcomings He has been there waiting for us with open arms Just as the just as he waited for the prodigal son He waits for his children And if you have not answered his call to come forward And enter his kingdom and be part of his body We ask that you come forward now as we stand and sing