John 9:18-23 • What Are You Buying With Your Silence?

📖 John 9:18-23 — They threatened him with the same thing they threatened his parents with. The parents went home. He stayed and testified anyway. ⛪ Preached at Pilgrim Baptist Church • Cookeville, TN • June 27, 2026 📚 Part of our verse-by-verse expository series through the Gospel of John This message confronts the fear of man head-on through the story of the man born blind in John 9:18-38. When the Pharisees threaten his parents with being put out of the synagogue, his parents answer two questions and go silent on the third. Their son — with no family standing behind him, no advocate, no congregation — keeps testifying anyway. This is a sermon about the courage to confess Christ publicly when it costs you something real. If you've ever sat at a table, in a meeting, or in a room where saying the name of Jesus would cost you standing, comfort, or approval — and you went quiet instead — this message names exactly what that is. It's not denial. It's the fear of man dressed up as discretion. This expository preaching message through John 9 traces the parents' fear of the Jews (v. 22), the blind man's escalating testimony (a man called Jesus → a prophet), his expulsion from the synagogue, and Jesus seeking him out on the outside. The text shows what it costs to confess Christ — and what's waiting on the other side of that cost. This sermon walks through John 9:18-38, explaining: Why the Pharisees' question ("is this your son whom you SAY was born blind")   reveals they'd already decided not to believe Why the parents answer two of three questions and go silent on the one that   costs them something What "put out of the synagogue" actually meant — and why it functioned as   spiritual blackmail, not just social exclusion How fear of man operates the same way today in families, churches, and   workplaces Why the man with nothing to lose confessed everything, while the parents with   everything to lose confessed nothing How Jesus went looking for the man the religious system cast out What it means to worship "outside the building" when the building won't have you ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 - The Beggar Becomes the Witness 02:45 - "Whom You Say": The Pharisees' Loaded Question 04:00 The Parents Answer Two Questions, Not Three 07:35 - Fear of the Jews: Naming What They Won't Say 09:02 - Outside His Whole Life: A Father's Silence 10:45 - "Put Out of the Synagogue": The Weapon of Religion 17:11 - The Investigation Was Theater 19:50 - Nobody Can Testify for You 28:34 - What Are You Buying With Your Silence? 32:08 - Cast Out and Found: Jesus Comes Looking 35:32 - He Worshiped Him Outside the Building ⛪ About Pilgrim Baptist Church: We're a family integrated church in Cookeville, Tennessee where families worship together under verse-by-verse expository preaching from the King James Bible. At Pilgrim, we believe in serious teaching for strong families built on biblical authority. Most of our sermons are verse-by-verse exposition through entire books of the Bible, systematically working through God's Word so believers understand Scripture in its full context. Families worship together. No entertainment. No shortcuts. Just faithful, verse-by-verse Bible teaching that transforms families. 🔔 Subscribe for weekly expository preaching through books of the Bible 📍 Visit Pilgrim Baptist Church: 170 4th Ave, Cookeville, TN 38506 Sunday Services: 10:00 AM — Family Integrated Sunday School 11:00 AM — Morning Worship 2:00 PM — Afternoon Service & Prayer Meeting Thursday Service: 6:00 PM — Midweek Bible Study 🌐 Learn More: pilgrimbaptist.church ✉️ Contact Pastor Fortunato: [email protected] 📞 Call: 931-219-2224 Plan your visit: pilgrimbaptist.church/plan-your-visit #FearOfMan #ConfessChrist #ExpositoryPreaching #John9 #ChristianCourage #FaithOverFear #BibleTeaching