Well now let's turn to the reading of God's Word. We are in Luke, chapter 18. If you would stand with me as we read God's word. We are in Luke chapter 18.
I'm going to read from verse 31, to the end of the chapter, Luke 18. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you do speak, you're not a silent God. Your word is powerful it is living there is sharper than any two edged sword and more we do pray that you will indeed cut to our hearts.
you'll expose our sinful natures, that you'll expose our spiritual blindness that we might be able to see Christ all the more. And seeing Christ let's cry out and find mercy that you so freely give. So willingly give to all who call upon your name. Or give us ears to hear this morning, that you will help us to hear of Christ crucified for sinners like us, now risen in writing, and one day returning. And it's in Jesus's name we pray, amen.
People have got here a God's Word this morning for you. from Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse 31. And taking the 12 You said to them, see we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished, for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spat upon. And after flogging him they will kill him. And on the third day, he will rise. But they understood none of these things. The same was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what he said. As he drew nearer to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road side begging, and hearing a crowd going by he inquired what this meant. They told him Jesus of Nazareth, Nazareth is passing passing by. And he cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And those who are in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, What do you want me to do for you? He said, Lord, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, recover your sight, your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his site and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people when they saw it gave praise to God. He was yours, let them hear the Word of God, maybe Seaton. If you were here, you might remember the last time we were in Luke, we looked at the text of the rich young ruler A few weeks ago. Remember, if you remember, he has everything the world wants, he's rich. He's young, he's healthy. He's a ruler, he's in a position of power and influence. And he's a religious guy. He's, he's a good guy in the world standards. But the tragedy of that text is that he thought that everything that he had was worth more than the Lord Jesus Christ. He thinks that things of this world are more valuable than Christ and he goes away sad. He doesn't see Christ for who we really is. And then if you remember, Peter says, See, we have left our homes and we have followed you.
And Peter is essentially saying, Well, Jesus, we have left everything. Is it? Is it worth it, though? Is it worth it? To leave everything to follow it Christ? Is it worth it, to leave this world behind to follow you?
Because if I'm honest, Jesus, I kind of want what that rich young ruler has, is it worth it to leave it behind? And Jesus says, Truly I say to you, there's no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life. I think JC Ryle, summarize that text wellness is the believer shall find in Christ a full equivalent for anything that he is obliged to give up for Christ's sake, he shall find such peace and hope and joy and Comfort and rest and communion with the Father and the Son, that his losses shall be more than counterbalance counterbalanced by his gains. In short, the Lord Jesus Christ shall be more to him than property, or relatives, or friends. If you remember, we discussed and concluded Jesus is indeed worth it. But here as we are working our way through Luke, we are reminded that all of these blessings that are ours now and for eternity, come at a great cost. They come at the cost of Christ's blood. And that's what we see in verses 31 through 34. It's a reminder of that, that Jesus prophesied about his death, but also his resurrection, He will be delivered over to the Gentiles.
And this is the first time in Luke, that Jesus has mentioned some of these things specifically, that he's going to be delivered over to the Gentiles, not just the Jews, but the Gentiles, that he's going to be mocked that he's going to be spat spat upon, that he's going to be flogged. But he also tells us that he's going to die and also rise again, on the third day, and if you get an idea, as we are, are approaching Jerusalem, the picture of the cross is becoming more and more vivid to Jesus. And notice, I want you here is Jesus's confidence in the Word of God.
There in those few verses, he doesn't say I think the scriptures are going to get a few things right. As he looks down, and he is considering what's before Him, He doesn't say, you know, the scriptures that they have had a pretty high percentage on what's going to happen. He says, everything that is written, will be accomplished everything. And we know that to be true. Because we are now living past the cross paths, the resurrection. But even if we look at the Old Testament, we can look at Psalm 22 Verse seven, are all who see me mock me they make mows at me they wag their heads, he trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him Psalm 22, almost writing an exact word for word account of what happens at the Cross hundreds of years before it occurs. Isaiah 53, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds were healed. Everything that God's word says comes true. Jesus will not only die and suffer, he will be rejected by men and forsaken by God. But even before the cross occurs, he also is looking forward to the resurrection. He mentioned that here, he knows that the cross is not the end, he will rise again. Now Jesus has certainly it's worth it for us to follow Jesus. But is it worth it for Jesus, to die for people to go to Jerusalem to die for people who don't really think Jesus is worth it? To follow other things to Martin did not make Jesus the Pearl of Great Price. Because we too, are very much like the rich young ruler. There are a lot of things in our lives that we don't really want to let go to pursue Jesus full heartedly. And is it worth it for Jesus to go to the cross and die for people like us? Well, Hebrews 12, verse two says, For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. And I would say, of all the theological questions, and theological mysteries, this is the greatest. This is the great mystery of the scriptures. And the great mystery of God is why would Jesus do this? Why would he save us? Why would he consider it joy, to go to the cross to rescue a people for Himself, and all we can say it's amazing grace. It's a great mercy, that He loved us even while we were yet sinners, he would go to the cross and die.
And then the miracle we are considering here and our text, this is his final miracle, before he enters Jerusalem, it's hard to believe we've been in Luke for a little while. And this is the final miracle before Jesus enters Jerusalem. And he's only going to do one more miracle. You'll hear he'll he'll a person's ear that's been cut off by Peter. But this is the last miracle he does before entering Jerusalem. And the text is meant now to ask you as he's about to enter into Jerusalem, to die on the cross for your sin. And it's all leading up to this question of will you be a disciple of Jesus? Will you be a follower of Jesus or not? In Luke 18, that these two texts of this blind man, and the rich young ruler are really being compared together. And you're going to be like one of the two, you will seek the world and all of its riches, and you will think it worth more than Christ.
Will you'll be willing to leave all and even be a beggar, and have nothing and not even your eyesight, but yet cry out for the mercy of Jesus and have him which would you rather be? A rich, young ruler, good person in the eyes of the world? Or even a blind beggar, but yet has Jesus?
Now I know what the answer should be. But this is the work and the difficulty of wrestling with your own heart. Will you choose Jesus? Above all things or not? Will you be a follower?
Will you be a disciple? Or will you go the way of the world? To be a disciple of Christ, there are three things here that we see. If you are a disciple of Jesus, you will cry out for mercy to you will receive mercy.
Three, you will follow Jesus for He is merciful. And that's what we see happen here, in this text of this blind man, in cries out for the mercy of Jesus. Verse 35, as he drew nearer to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, a typical picture of what you might see in a large city. Maybe you even saw it this morning here in Tampa. And there are people that you see on a regular basis if you follow a regular route, you see kind of the same people at the same corner at the same position. And no doubt that is like this man here. A regular fixture people new him, saw him who were there in Jericho. Now, the interesting thing about Jericho is it's a city in the desert. And the reason it's able to exist because it's on a large oasis with water and palm trees and ends up being a major rest stop for weary pilgrims who are making their way into Jerusalem.
Have you ever traveled typically out west, not so much in the east, but there are places out west where you will see signs that this is your last opportunity for gas or a rest stop for so many 100 miles. And it's a warning that if you need to fill up for gas, now's the time to do it, because there is nothing between here and where you want to go. Jericho was like that. Jericho is the last rest stop before getting to Jerusalem. And just to give you then context, where we are in the Gospel of Luke, there is Jericho. And then there's the cross. And Jesus is now entering Jericho that time is, is drawing near. Jericho, often, though, would triple even, double, triple in size, around the time of Passover, as pilgrims from all over the region are heading to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. So beggars would certainly be out hoping to get some generous gifts from passers by. And here we have this blind beggar. And he hears a crowd going by in verse 36. And he inquired what this meant. They told him Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He heard a commotion. And he's curious, rightly so. And he, he says, Well, what does this mean? What What's this crowd gathered about? What's going on? What's happening? Because I can't see.
Someone tell me. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. You know, it's interesting. What He doesn't say, Who's that?
He doesn't say, Wow, who's that? Who is that? He's heard about Jesus. He's never seen Jesus. But he's heard of Jesus, and we don't know what he's heard. But think about maybe some of the things he might have heard. Maybe he's heard about a virgin birth. Or John the Baptist who said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Maybe he heard about Jesus healing people with were possessed with demons or Jesus cleansing lepers or healing paralytics or healing people with withered hands or calming storms, or raising people from the dead or he eats and drinks with prostitutes and tax collectors and he forgives sinners. We don't know what have you heard, but by hearing he believed Jesus has done so many miracles if we look if we were to review some of the things we just have, and Luke and again, it's a reminder of the devastation that sin has caused on the earth sin has caused all of those things that Jesus is then reversing the curse on. In each miracle, if you have spent any time here listening to any of my sermons on miracles, that are all in analogy of the physical needs, are matching our spiritual needs. Remember, leprosy of the outward appearance of the rotting death is a picture of the spiritual reality of our hearts that we are, are spiritually dead and decayed that the paralytic is we are crippled, we are unable to move towards God, we cannot do anything ourselves. It's all a spiritual picture, all spiritual realities. And this man is blind. He can't see but he can see something. He can see his need. He knows that he is blind, he knows that he's impoverished.
He knows that he's in need of mercy. He can see something. So seen his need we are told in verse 38, he cries out with a loud voice, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me. Probably even louder, but I don't want to startle you too bad. But it was loud. There's a great crowd. And his voice is able to carry so much over that. He's causing a commotion. He's disturbing people by what he's saying. And why he's saying it's an amazing for a blind beggar, the theological accurateness of his plea. He's the Messiah. He's the deliverer of Israel. He the deliverer of Israel would come from the lineage of David. He knows that he's learned that somehow that that, that the Messiah would not only be David son, but David's Lord, that Jesus is the Anointed One, to be the Prophet, Priest and King of Israel to come and deliver them.
And this is that's the real irony of this entire passage is here you have a blind beggar who sees Jesus more clearly than those who have two good eyes to see him physically. And yet he can see Jesus better. He sees Jesus for who He really is. And most people are seeing Jesus as people see Jesus now. They are seeing Jesus as he's a he's a really good preacher. Oh, his teaching, I could listen to his teaching all day. Oh, don't just and he, you know what? Maybe he's even a prophet. I'll even say that. I'll say, maybe he's even a prophet from God. But no, Jesus is the God man, he is the Messiah, He is the Savior. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man will come to the Father apart from him. And this blind man sees, he sees Jesus not yet physically but spiritually. He sees it and he cries out for mercy. And he's raising a commotion. And then in verse 39, and those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
Don't embarrass us. This is Jesus in Jericho, we want to put on a good impression. We want Jesus to like us. And you're, you're embarrassing us. You're a blind beggar. You're disgusting.
Be quiet, shut your mouth. Be quiet, be silent. Stop crying out to Jesus. You're not worth it. You think Jesus is going to stop for you? You aren't worthy.
And he's not.
But he would not be silent what he he would not be discouraged.
In fact, if you look at the next verse, But he cries all the more Son of David, have mercy on me.
He continues to shout for mercy over and over and over and over and even after others tell him to be quiet. Now you must be aware. You must know that there will always be people in your life who will tell you to be quiet. You will have family, you might even have friends. And certainly our culture is going to discourage you from calling on Jesus, to seeking after Jesus to pursuing Jesus with all that you have. Have you ever felt that pressure especially young people here Have you felt that pressure from peers? How have you responded? Have you then felt a little half hearted?
Maybe a little discouraged a little sheepish? You know, I don't want to bother anyone. You know, I want to be a good witness. And if they think I don't want to annoy them, and Jesus be this Jesus freak, they're not going to listen to me, then. Maybe just be, I'll just be, I'll just be a little quieter on Jesus, Jesus, have mercy on me. Just just be a little quieter. I think I think that'll be okay. You ever felt like that?
Just, I'll be I'll be less of a Christian. I'll be less of a witness.
Oh, I won't call on Christ's name like you know, maybe that's tears because you know, I've done that too. I've been ashamed of Christ. You know, JC Ryle says, that a man see his own guilt.
And as he really is, and he will never rest, till he has found pardon, peace in Christ.
Let a man see his own guilt. And as he really is, and he will never find you will never rest who he is found pardon and peace in Christ. If you see your need, like, this blind man saw his need, ignore all request. Cry out for Jesus, all the more young people do not be deterred.
Run after Christ. Don't let anyone stop you. Be a Jesus freak.
And hear this man he cries out and he continues to cry out. But if you don't cry out, it's because you're blind. That's what the Scriptures tell us if we're not crying out if we're not crying out what's because we're blind. Second Corinthians four. Verse four says, in their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ. But thankfully, Romans 10 Verse 13, tells us whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And you know, if you cry out for mercy, from Jesus, you will receive mercy. It always happens. There's not a single person ever, who has called out for mercy up to Jesus and he has not granted mercy. He has given it and it happens here. Verse 40, and Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. Just now I think what's happening with Jesus Jesus is he is marching towards Jerusalem with determination. Remember, his face is fixed like splint, he's going to the cross, the bear shame and pain, the suffering and agony of the cross for sins he didn't commit, he was going to be come sin, even though he had never sinned.
Jesus is doing important things right now, isn't he? He's on a mission right now isn't me. But when he hears a cry for mercy from a poor, blind beggar, he stops one poor, blind beggar, and Jesus stops the grant mercy.
And that's our hope. Jesus isn't too busy for a worm like me. But Jesus will even hear my voice, that Jesus would grant mercy even to someone like me. Jesus is saying, I'm not going to take one more step. Until this man comes to me, I'm not going to make one more step forward, until he comes to me. And it's one thing to call on Jesus. But it's something completely different when Jesus calls you.
And that's where the true redemption lies here in this passage is Jesus calls to this man to come to me. And here's something else I love in this text. I love it. Who is it that Jesus commands in this text to get the man those who are just told this man to be quiet, to be silent? And now Jesus says, You who just told this man to be silent? I'm going to use you as the instrument to bring this man to myself. Isn't that amazing?
Jesus is using people that tried to prevent this blind man from coming to him as the very instrument now to draw him to himself. And maybe that's some of your stories. I know this was the case for CS Lewis that that famous writer who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia and other books that are well loved, and beloved, he set out to disprove Christianity, to keep people from Jesus Christ, like the crowd. But then God changed his heart. And now God then used him as an instrument, to draw people to Jesus. And that's exactly what Jesus does to this crown, even using crooked instruments to make straight blows. Jesus does that. Does that hear? I love that. And Megan, maybe that was you, maybe you maybe you were keeping people from Jesus, and maybe even right now, in some way you're keeping your kids or friends or spouse from running to Jesus as hard and fast as they ought. But let Jesus work in your heart this morning, that you will free them up and say, run all the harder, go all the harder cry all the louder for Jesus.
That's what Jesus is calling you to do.
And when he came near, he asked him, What do you want me to do for you?
Wow. Wow, Jesus asked you that question, what would you say? Imagine Jesus, what do you want me to do for you? What would you say? Just think?
Jesus says, What do you want me to do for you?
What would you say? Ah, I'd like a new a new leg. I'd like to be healed from this disease. I'd like a new job. I want a better marriage. I want obedient children.
Think about the things you might say.
He says, Lord, let me recover my sight. And an obvious answer for this guy, right? He has something pretty much everyone else has already. But this request is a sign of faith in Jesus for who he is. Because imagine I come visit you in the hospital. And I say, hey, you know, is there anything I can do for you? You're not going to say, Pastor make me Well, he'll me. You might say, Could you get me a sandwich at Chick fil A, because the food here is terrible. But you see even his request, it's an act of faith.
He's recognizing who Christ is the fact that he would even say, make me see. He's putting his faith in Christ that he could even do something like that you and ask me that. Now, is this a poor request? I think this is an interesting thought. Because, you know, he doesn't say, Jesus, give me your righteousness.
Because that's really what I need. Because without righteousness, I will never enter your kingdom. When that been a better request, isn't that the real problem here?
Yeah, sure. It is. And he doesn't say, you know, I know I can't see, but it's not my eyes. It's not my ears. It's not my leprosy. It's my soul, heal my soul give my sole ability to see and have faith in you. He doesn't say that. When that been a better request, maybe. But we know this blind beggar had faith. And perhaps, maybe it's a weak faith and maybe in a faith that is mixed with imperfection. But it was faith that made him cry to Jesus and continue to cry for Jesus.
And I think that's comforting for us. Because our faith, too, might be feeble, and our sins many, and maybe our prayers are poor, and stammering and our mode motives even may be imperfect as well. But the Jesus who heard this blind man's cry and grants his request for mercy is the same Jesus that we worship this day. Who says, he comes to me I will never cast out, even if we come with imperfection are imperfect prayers, or our motives are all mixed up. And maybe we're I'm not even asking the right thing.
But Jesus is merciful. And that's, that's the comfort we find here. I'm probably asking for the wrong but God's merciful. Jesus is merciful. He is merciful to us in this man.
And Jesus said to him in verse 40, to recover your site, your faith has made you well, Mercy has granted. Your faith has saved you, you could translate it that way. And it's also a reminder to that this man does receive some physical healing but it's also spiritually. A reminder though that one day, we not only look forward to spiritual transformation perfectly, but also physically One day Jesus will take weigh every consequence of sin, one day all of your physical problems will be healed. Oh, salvation, there's more even to come. God never promised us though to save us from suffering here in this world, there is the cross. And then the crown. In fact, God says He will save us even through our suffering. But this man too, is not made perfect in his physical ability.
Because where is he now? He's he's died, hasn't he? And he wasn't made perfect spiritually.
He was still having to be sanctified and made more and more like Christ. But now he's in heaven. But so it is with us, God, God got it. We're looking forward to that time where we will not only be spiritually perfected, but also physically in heaven. And we wait for that day. And then he follows Jesus because Jesus is so merciful and mercy has been granted. He sees for the first time in his life, probably we don't know for sure.
We don't know if this man was blinded at birth, or something happened that there was some kind of accident. But if you were able to then see for the first time, what would you want to do? You might want to go see the city that you've been living in, in, in Jericho, let me go see those palm trees. Let me go see my family who loved me and people who helped me, or maybe the people who weren't so helpful, I'm gonna go see them.
But what does he want, he opens his eyes, and he sees Jesus. And He wants nothing more, to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus. He wants to follow Jesus. And you know what the interesting thing with this man who now has restored eyes, probably the next thing that he is going to see is Jesus going to Jerusalem, and dying on a cross for his sin.
With his new eyes, he'll see Jesus, taking on all of his guilt, and shame and spiritual blindness, so that he might spiritually see that he might have life. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him glorifying God. And all the people when they saw it gave praise to God to he followed and glorified God. And this is again, this is what we're made to do. This is why we're here.
We are made to glorify God, we are made to follow God. He followed Jesus, he glorified God. And he's showing his gratitude by following Him to be one of his disciples. So it doesn't matter what the Pharisees think, who are very powerful with the Sadducees in that town, that will make his life probably pretty miserable to be a disciple of Jesus. But he follows Jesus, it doesn't matter what anyone says to him.
He can say I was blind, but now I see. Men will never take up the cross and confess Jesus before the world and lived to him until they feel that they are indebted to him for pardon, peace, and hope. This is the desire of true disciples to see Jesus to be with Jesus to follow Jesus. He's not just sitting on the road anymore. He's following Jesus. You shouldn't just be sitting in the pew any more. Yes for the sermon, but then go follow Jesus. Now, I'm not saying just leave now, right?
But follow Jesus. Don't just sit and listen. Go into the world.
share the Gospel, be a disciple of Christ. Made a lot in common with this blind man. You know, like this blind man, we we too.
We have not seen Jesus's miracles. We haven't seen Jesus heal, or take, you know, demon possession from someone bring someone back to life commerce store. Have you seen that? I haven't seen that. This man didn't see it either. But he heard it and he believed and you have heard about Jesus as well.
You have heard about his miracles you have heard about his grace, you have heard about his mercy. You have heard, just like this blind man has heard.
And Jesus is passing by right now. Not physically, but by the preaching of the Word and the sacrament. Jesus is passing by right now. What will you do?
What are you going to do? Will you be like the rich young ruler? Jesus is helpful in answering my theological questions. Jesus is helpful and answering let you know just a quick thing I'm wrestling with.
Or will you be like this blind man? Do you have a sense of your condition? Can you see your need? Can you see your need right now for mercy can You see your need of Jesus right now?
Can you see it? Will you cry out? Or will you be silent? You know, I've never done this before. But if you're willing, let's cry out to Jesus right now. In unison, like we do a responsive reading, if you feel your need of Christ right now, look at verse 38. And we're going to say Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me.
Have mercy on me. We'll read it together. Okay. Here we go.
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Be quiet. You're not worthy.
Jesus, he only has time for important people, people who are not as bad as you are. Please be quiet.
What are you going to say next?
You want to say it again we go here we go. Ready? Jesus son of David have mercy on me Jesus has your faith has made you well. Let's pray.
Jesus, Son of David have mercy upon us. That is a cry that is our plea. This is what we need.
We need mercy. Help us to see, to see our sin, to see our need to see our condition to see what sin has worked in our lives to hate it.
To flee to Jesus and find mercy Lord, please grant us mercy. We have so many things that are broken in our lives that need to be healed. Or grant healing.
Grant peace.
Lord, we thank You that You are so merciful.
We thank you for Jesus. And it's in his name we pray, Amen.