See Jesus with Eyes of Faith

[0:00] If you would take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 18. If you're visiting with us, you can pull out that black Bible in the chair in front of you.

[0:14] Go towards the back. Towards the back of it and find page 63. Page 63.

[0:25] Luke chapter 18, verses 31 through 43. 31 to the end of chapter 18.

[0:35] We'll study that this morning. Luke 18, 31 to 43. Or page 63 in that black Bible. I'm going to read and then we'll do our study.

[0:54] Verse 31. And Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem. And all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.

[1:08] For he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they've scourged him, they will kill him. And the third day he will rise again.

[1:20] And they understood none of these things. And the same was hidden from them. And they did not comprehend the things that were said. And it came about as he was approaching Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging.

[1:35] Now hearing a multitude going by, he began to inquire what this might be. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he called out saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

[1:50] And those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet. But he kept crying out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him.

[2:03] And when he had come near, he questioned him, What do you want me to do for you? And he said, Lord, I want to regain my sight. And Jesus said to him, You see your sight.

[2:17] Your faith has saved you. And immediately he regained his sight and began following him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.

[2:34] Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease. It is the leading cause of vision loss for those aged 55 and older.

[2:49] In the U.S., it affects more than 10 million Americans. Macular degeneration is caused by the deterioration of the central portion of the retina, the inside back layer of the eye that records the images we see and sends them via the optic nerve from the eye to the brain.

[3:08] The retina central portion, known as the macula, is responsible for focusing central vision in the eye and it controls our ability to read, drive a car, recognize faces or colors, and see objects in fine detail.

[3:21] Specific factors that cause macular degeneration are not conclusively known. Nobody knows why.

[3:34] What causes it? What brings it about? They don't know. According to polls, Americans dread blindness more than any other disability.

[3:44] This is what it looks like. This is what you see if you have macular degeneration.

[4:01] Come on. There we go. That's it? Okay. Come on. There we go.

[4:12] This is... Oh, okay. Normal vision. Macular degeneration. No, it's the big black spot. It's just not...

[4:25] There we go. This is a little bit... Not quite as bad. Normal. There's the black spot. Someone once bluntly asked blind and deaf Helen Keller, Isn't it terrible to be blind?

[4:50] To which she responded, Better to be blind and see with your heart than to have two good eyes and see nothing. You may be blind.

[5:03] As we will see with this blind man, He saw a whole lot more than other people did. Come follow Jesus. You'll find forgiveness of your sins.

[5:14] And in our passage we will see this morning, Seeing Jesus with the eyes of faith. Follow Jesus. You'll find forgiveness of your sins. Seeing Him with the eyes of faith.

[5:25] We're going to see the sixth announcement of Jesus' death. And then the healing of the blind man. What will happen to Jesus will fulfill Scripture.

[5:40] Yet the disciples haven't got a clue what He was talking about. Which runs contrary to the blind man who proclaimed the actual deity, Messianic deity of Jesus.

[5:50] Jesus was telling His disciples that a true follower will give up all to follow Him. We looked at that last week with the rich man. And now, Jesus predicted His own giving up.

[6:06] His own giving up to save sinners. He will give up the very life for them. Which the Old Testament predicted for Jesus, for the Messiah. Yet the disciples didn't realize its importance.

[6:20] This blind man saw much more than the Pharisee. That we looked at earlier in chapter 18.

[6:32] Much more than the rich man. And even Jesus' own disciples. The blind man not only believed in Jesus' power to heal, but embraced His claim to be Messiah.

[6:43] This is a very important irony in Luke's Gospel. You have here the Pharisee, and then you have this tax collector.

[6:53] You have the rich man, and then you have the disciples, and they're just clueless, and then you have this blind man. But this is the irony within Luke's Gospel.

[7:05] Jesus loved to show that the most unexpected people would receive His grace and mercy. The most unexpected people. The people you would never think to come to Christ.

[7:18] The people you would never think would embrace Jesus. Because they do. I mean, Luke's readers would have expected the Pharisee, right?

[7:30] I mean, he was a pious, a godly man. He kept the law. Not the tax collector. I mean, who would expect a guy from the IRS?

[7:42] No way. I mean, they would expect a rich man, right? The rich man. I mean, he's blessed by God. He'd be hardly welcome into the kingdom, right?

[7:54] Jesus would say, Hey, come on down. And the disciples would probably say, What are you doing? You're driving this guy away. He's got some major move on. He could help us out.

[8:08] No. The rich man blatantly walked away from Jesus' call to faith. From Jesus' call to discipleship. Interesting how the rich man had it all.

[8:24] And he could see all. But he was actually really blind. The blind man had nothing. He couldn't see anything. And yet he trusted in Jesus to be God's Messiah.

[8:36] God gives faith so that it removes spiritual blindness, doesn't he? And if there was anyone, if there was anyone who would understand Jesus' mission, who would have understood this, what he was supposed to do, where he was supposed to go, why he was headed toward Jerusalem, it should have been who?

[9:00] The twelve guys following him, right? He told them five times before this. But they didn't get it.

[9:10] It was hidden from them. They were responsible to understand what Jesus was talking about, but they did not comprehend what he had just told them. The disciples were blind to God's plan as the beggar was physically blind.

[9:29] Part of appealing to God to save you is crying out for mercy. So I was saying that song this morning. The blind man, have mercy on me.

[9:42] The tax collector, have mercy on me. And we see Jesus, he reaches out to the outcasts.

[9:57] To the ones that are just cast aside. To the ones that don't mean anything. What does he do? He serves them. And Jesus commended this man's faith, which stood up to peer pressure, and the peer pressure was strong.

[10:18] This blind man stands as an example of persistent faith, which was granted to them only by the Father. Faith led to his sight.

[10:30] So seeing Jesus through the eyes of faith is our main point. And there's two sub-points underneath this.

[10:41] Point number one, seeing what Jesus must do, he must die. And then we'll see who Jesus truly is. First though, verses 31 to 34. Seeing Jesus with the eyes of faith, we see what Jesus must do.

[10:56] He must die. He must die. verse 31. He took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem. I'm on a mission.

[11:09] He's headed up to Jerusalem. That's the direction he had to go. He knew where he had to go. He knew what he had to do. There's no question about it. And all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.

[11:27] Interesting. I said, I'm talking about what he will do and then we're going to talk about who he is. But wait, Jesus mentions him being the Son of Man here. We should talk about who he is here, right? Not necessarily.

[11:40] Son of Man is a title that Jesus used to describe himself. It goes back to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel's vision in Daniel chapter 7 with the Ancient of Days.

[11:52] And so when the disciples will hear the Son of Man they'll be like, oh, power and glory and awesomeness and yeah, wipe out the Romans type guy. No.

[12:04] First, Jesus will describe himself and what he had to do will be a ministry of suffering and death. Later there'll be rain. Later there'll be power.

[12:17] But Jesus using this very title Son of Man it completely threw off the disciples. Because Jesus knew what he had to do.

[12:27] He had to suffer. He had to die. And notice it says will be accomplished, will be fulfilled. This is what the Old Testament wrote about.

[12:39] God had a task for Jesus, his eternal Son, a task for him to do. And Jesus was determined to fulfill it. He was driven. It's a vital point because this tells us that the Old Testament prophesied about these things.

[12:58] Verse 32 and 33. For he'll be delivered to the Gentiles who will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they've scourged him they will kill him and the third day he will rise again.

[13:12] Seven verbs. Four passives. Three active verbs. Notice. Given over to the Gentiles.

[13:23] That is, he'll be delivered over to the Romans. Second, mocked. Which would accompany his arrest and custody. He would not receive any respect, any honor during his confinement.

[13:36] It would mock him. Number three. Mistreated. That is, shame for treatment connected with mocking him. And four.

[13:47] Spit upon. He was derided. Anybody spit on you? Complete degradation. I had some guy do that towards me and Jerome.

[14:01] It's degrading. And then the three active verbs. Scourge, killed and rise. Scourge, flogged. Usually part of the crucifixion and it seems that Jesus may have received two counts of it.

[14:17] One before he was crucified. Second when he was going to get crucified. Then killed. These Gentiles would kill him and the Jews would do it too. They were part of it.

[14:30] And then notice the third verb. He will rise again. And this prediction, this sixth prediction of what's going to happen, Jesus revealed even more what was going to take place.

[14:43] Even more what would happen to him when he faces the Father's wrath on behalf of sinners. And yet, notice also, he's speaking these things to disciples. Notice, Jesus was in control of all these events.

[14:56] and yet, at the same time, he willingly submitted himself to these events, to what would happen. Another important point, Jesus knew what his purpose was.

[15:12] He knew why he was here on earth. Not just to talk about hell, not just to talk about money, not just, hey man, let's just love everybody, man. Right? People talk about that.

[15:24] What do you think the teaching of Jesus? Oh man, he just teaches about love, man. No, his focus, Jesus' focus, as he called people to leave all and follow him, they would follow his example.

[15:39] He left all to die. That was his focus. That was his mission. He willingly and knowingly gave his life for his sheep.

[15:55] He was in control of laying down his life. And he was in control of taking it up again. So John says, John chapter 10, and if you're here and you're not a follower of Jesus, you're not a Christian, this was Jesus' main goal.

[16:14] This is what Jesus' main purpose was. This was his mission to die for sinners. He left his throne in heaven and he took on flesh, found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself to the Father's plan by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

[16:35] He had to because all of God's judgments should come upon us and yet instead of coming upon sinners, it would come upon Jesus. So anyone who turns away from their sin, turns away from walking in sin and puts all their trust, all their hope in Jesus, they would be saved.

[16:54] That's the gospel. That's why he came. And may that be, that truth, may it be the main focus of this church, Cottonwood Bible Church, Christ Jesus and Him crucified.

[17:11] He lived, He died, He rose. Let that be our banner. Let that be our purpose. Let that be our mission to proclaim.

[17:22] Yes, do we want to do good things? Yes. Want to reach out to the community? Yes. Do we want to do that? Yes. But may our focus, may our purpose be Christ Jesus and Him crucified. That's the gospel that must be central or else the church will die.

[17:38] Jesus He's given Himself to His disciples just telling them this is what's going to happen to me.

[17:52] What? Verse 34 And they understood none of these things. This thing was hidden from them and they did not comprehend the things that were said.

[18:04] Of the three gospels that have this recorded, only Luke gave the lack of comprehension by the disciples saying it two times to make His point.

[18:16] They had no clue at all. Unfortunately, they did not understand how His death went into God's plan for Jesus or at least what they thought was God's plan.

[18:30] No, no, Lord. This is not going to happen to you. did not fit together in their understanding until after the resurrection. And see, this is important, friends, because when somebody comes to you and says, oh, yeah, you know, the disciples, they stole Jesus' body.

[18:49] That's right. And then they said He was resurrected. Yeah, I don't think so. They were not expecting this. As a matter of fact, they were totally against this. They did not expect that Jesus would rise.

[19:02] They were shocked that He was even talking about some death. Death of what? What is He talking about? You know, the sad part is Jesus knew He would enter this alone.

[19:16] They would not be with Him. He would get no support from them. Did you notice something in the verse, though? How the verse began and ended.

[19:29] It begins and ends with their responsibility to not understand. You see that? But notice what's in the middle of the verse. it was hidden from them.

[19:42] For them to put the pieces together was an ability given to them by God who kept them from putting those pieces together.

[19:52] You see that? He kept them from doing it. It was hidden from them. Why? Because this truth must be granted to them by God. God is the one who opens the eyes of the blind so they will see who Jesus is and what His mission is.

[20:13] The ironic part is that the very next scene shows a blind man seeing Jesus clearly. That's the irony. but God for some reason prevented the disciples from understanding this.

[20:31] God just does this. So what can we take away before we move into verse 35 which we'll look at the next part. What can we take away from this when we're giving somebody the gospel? As we give people the gospel remember two points.

[20:45] First they must hear the gospel. You can't do this friends. Here just take this and just put it on your head and then go to sleep.

[20:57] Then all of a sudden you'll get saved. It doesn't happen like that. Salvation doesn't happen by osmosis or by touching church building.

[21:10] God doesn't work in a vacuum. The Spirit of God gives life through the word through the message preached to them. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ.

[21:22] Right? Thank you all of you for saying that. That's what needs to happen. You need to speak the gospel. Speak it to people. Second, though they must hear, only God is the one who has them really hear.

[21:45] hear. Hear, h-e-r-e, but h-e-a-r. Notice the rich man, he heard, but did not hear.

[21:58] The disciples heard, but did not hear. The blind men heard, and he really heard, right? This is for free.

[22:09] I'm in Jerome on Friday. I'm talking with this gal. And I'm talking about, I think she asked me, how are things going?

[22:22] Well, you know, people aren't really wanting to listen. And she said, yeah, and it's like that, you know, and I said, but I'm just the messenger. But I can't, I can't make anybody do it.

[22:34] And she said, yeah, it has to, something has to come that's not mortal. I kind of like, that come out of your mouth? I mean, she's not a Christian.

[22:46] She's like, it has to come out of something that's not mortal. I said, yeah, exactly. I'm just the messenger. I speak the message of the gospel, but it takes the spirit of God working in their heart. I said, for example, this is great, so I use this.

[22:58] I said, when I tell people the gospel, so I just went in and told them the gospel. I said, what you need to do, you need to repent and believe in Jesus. I went through the gospel, told them, you need to repent and believe in Jesus.

[23:11] So you just heard the message of the gospel, right? She's like, yeah. So now, what the spirit of God is going to do, you go home, you're doing this and that, and then something happens, and the spirit of God will convict you, and then you will experience salvation, and it will change your life, it will transform you.

[23:26] She says, yeah, it's almost like what you're doing, you're just planting seeds amongst these people, that's what you're doing. I'm like, did she just say that?

[23:40] She's not a Christian, okay? And she doesn't believe any of this that I'm saying. But she's so right. Planting seeds, something not mortal must come and open their eyes.

[23:56] God grants to sinners the ability to embrace His eternal Son. Remember we talked about this last week? How God opens the eyes of the blind, so what do they do?

[24:10] They run into the arms of Jesus, and they say, have mercy on me, save me, I need you. God is the one who does that.

[24:23] So, seeing Jesus, what He had to do, what did He have to do? He had to die. And you need eyes of faith. Eyes are given to you by God for you to see these things.

[24:34] Now, second point, see who He truly, what He must do, and see who He truly is, the Messiah. He's the Messiah.

[24:49] Came about as He was approaching Jericho. could be two Jerichos, the old city and the inhabited city. The language could denote leaving.

[25:01] Have a way it's done. Here, Luke tells us He's approaching Jericho, and a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Social security was not in effect that day.

[25:13] It went down for a few millennia. There was no social security. So, how did blind people get around? Begging. They were totally destitute.

[25:25] They depended upon people's gifts. There was no hope for them. He would take his normal spot with all the other beggars. And the reason why they would be at the gates of the city there is because that's where all the traffic was coming in.

[25:42] That's where everybody's coming through. That's why they do the signs right there on the highway. Everybody's got the signs right there. But that's where all the traffic is coming in. All the people are walking through. And the blind people, they have no hope.

[25:53] There's nothing else they can do. Maybe the wife's working. If he's not even married or anything, he's done. He's relying upon people to give him something. He can't work. There's no welfare.

[26:08] 36. Hearing a multitude are going by. Wait a second. There's more people. What's going on? He began to inquire what this might be. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Jesus from Nazareth was going through.

[26:24] Nothing else was said about Jesus or who he was by the crowds. Nothing else. What does he do? What?

[26:34] What? What? What? What? He called out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. here's an opportunity.

[26:46] So he cried out to Jesus asking him to have mercy upon him, calling him the son of David. The only one in Luke's gospel who addressed Jesus like this.

[27:01] This blind man. The only one who's ever done this. So he couldn't press through the people. He couldn't push through the crowds. He didn't know he was going. He was blind.

[27:11] So he was screaming at the top of his lungs frantically, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Using this title, what does this tell us about the blind man?

[27:29] Well, first of all, it tells us he knew something about Jesus that the crowd didn't know or they weren't admitting. Right? Second, he called him son of David, which this is an important messianic title.

[27:42] Messianic confession, which tells us also number three, this blind man believed him to be the Messiah, the one who brings restoration, the one who heals.

[27:55] The blind man saw this so clearly. It showed that this blind man had great faith, unlike the disciples. Jesus was God's promised helper.

[28:06] He saw Jesus crystal clear. He knew, he knew only Jesus could heal him and meet his need.

[28:20] And the fact that he cried out to Jesus shows that he truly believed that Jesus would take the time to meet his need. Look at the faith versus the huh?

[28:38] Look at the belief versus the what? Look at the trust versus the what in the world is he talking about? You see the contrast?

[28:49] You see the irony? Here he was, crying out, 38, excuse me, 39. And those who led the way, would you shut up?

[29:02] Sorry if I have to say that. Would you shut your mouth? Get away from me. He's probably screaming, touching people, they're probably like, would you knock it off, be quiet.

[29:15] Shut your flap. He was so, they were so upset at him, rebuking him, telling him to be quiet. Don't bother him, you loser.

[29:31] One writer, said this, he was full of blind sight. He could see. You know, it's not the first time we've seen people trying to push away others when Jesus was around.

[29:51] It's not the first time, right? Remember with the kids? The parents were bringing the kids and the disciples were like, good away. He's too busy for you. Right? Remember that?

[30:01] Remember with Levi's friends? Why is Jesus hanging out with tax collectors and sinners? Remember that?

[30:15] Do you remember the sinful woman? If Jesus knew who was touching him, oh my God, she's a sinner. Remember that?

[30:27] It's all throughout Luke's gospel. people. That's why we have as our main point, to all outcasts. To all outcasts. You must become an outcast.

[30:38] You must humble yourself and say, I'm nothing before you. I need you. This is exactly what the blind man was. And all these people are like, shut your mouth. You know what God loves to do?

[30:49] God loves to love on losers who admit they truly need him. it's the ones who see their need. They're desperate. They cry out to him.

[31:00] And Jesus loves to show love to them. But he kept crying out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me.

[31:11] Their efforts to shut him up that failed. He cried out even more. Oh, really? You're going to shut me up, huh? He didn't care about the public pressure.

[31:22] He didn't care about anything else. He didn't keep his mouth shut. He was desperate to be healed and was thoroughly convinced Jesus would heal him because I know he's the Messiah.

[31:37] He will heal me. He will show love for me. He will show compassion for me. I'm crying out to him. The louder he shouted, the more dangerous the situation would become too.

[31:53] It wasn't good in the first century with Roman soldiers around to be speaking about a Messiah king riot rebellion. That's probably not a good idea. But he didn't care.

[32:08] He believed in who Jesus was. I need you. And the sad part is that these people were blind to their need. They were blind to who Jesus was.

[32:19] They were blind to their own sin and hopelessness. they don't realize they're in trouble. Is it sad for you?

[32:32] Is it sad for you to see non- Christians, non- followers of Jesus like this? Is it sad for you? Do you weep over that?

[32:44] Over your neighbors? Over your relatives? That they're blind to who Jesus is. of our friends. They're blind to their own sin and hopelessness.

[33:01] You know, it's easy for us as followers of Jesus to not see our own blind spots. That's why we have the church body. That's why membership is so important.

[33:15] So vital to the life of a Christian brother or sister because that's where we can get accountability. That's where we can get encouragement. That's where you get exhorted, rebuked, corrected. And also people can lift you up.

[33:27] They'll bury each other's burdens. And that's fulfilling the law of Christ. So we need each other. So we need the community of faith. back to our text.

[33:42] Verse 40 And Jesus thought or stood and commanded that he be brought to him. And when he came near he questioned him. What do you want me to do for you? He ordered the man to be brought to once he was before Jesus.

[33:53] He asked him, what do you want me to do for you? And though this crowd rejected this outcast, Jesus would not. He always showed compassion to those who humble themselves before him.

[34:10] 41 And he said, Lord, to regain my sight, I'm helpless. I'm dependent upon you. I'm at your mercy. Open my eyes.

[34:24] If you're here today, you don't know Jesus, he'll hear your cry too. I'm helpless. Have mercy on me. Jesus honored his request.

[34:39] Merely speaking the words, Jesus said, receive your sight. And told him that his faith has saved him. That's how it is in the Greek, sozo.

[34:53] Because of the man's belief that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus commended the man's belief, using him as a lesson of persistent faith.

[35:05] this man believed Jesus to be God's Messiah, and the fact that Jesus could restore his sight was sure proof that he truly was the Messiah, because only the Messiah could restore the sight of the blind.

[35:20] That was prophesied. Jesus said this earlier. Was it Luke chapter 7? Jesus says, you told John the Baptist, the blind received their sight, the lame one, the dead are raised.

[35:33] This is what Messiah is doing, man. This is what I'm doing, because I'm the Messiah. And notice verse 43.

[35:45] Immediately he regained his sight. Immediately he was healed. And he had two responses. Two responses. First, he followed Jesus, and second, he began glorifying God.

[35:59] And notice how the crowd, they joined in, when the people saw it, they gave praise to God. they joined along with him by praising God, too. This act brought a flood of praise to God.

[36:13] Can you imagine? Can you imagine years, decades, of not being able to see, begging for money because he couldn't work.

[36:28] Now he can see. God to see. It's obvious that God granted not just the physical sight, but the spiritual sight to this man. May you see your need of Jesus today, and may you humble yourself before him just like this blind man.

[36:49] Jesus' very last miracle in the Gospel of Luke, it displayed who he truly was. and yet his sixth prediction of his coming death showed that God's Messiah needed to die on behalf of sinners.

[37:04] What irony, you see. He was such a different Messiah from what people were expecting. They were expecting a powerful, awesome, let's-go-smash-the-Romans type Messiah.

[37:21] No, he would open the eyes of the blind, and he would die. What things are happening in your life that you were not expecting?

[37:38] What's going on in your life you were not expecting those things? Don't be like the disciples. Jesus is sovereign over all those things. Humble yourself and cry out like the blind man did.

[37:50] Have mercy on me, O God. You're in control of Jesus. You were in control of your own death, so you're in control of my life. Here's Jesus' final act of compassion toward a poor, begging, blind man who ends up with everything.

[38:14] In opposition to this rich man, riches, money, wealth, we saw last week, who walked away from Jesus with nothing.

[38:29] And the rich man was sad after talking with Jesus. The blind man, he's ecstatic. See, the ones who recognize who Jesus is, really is, and decide to follow him, will have access to God's blessing, and salvific power.

[38:52] The ones who embrace who Jesus is, they're truly rich before God. The treasure of God is in Jesus, and it comes through faith in him. He truly satisfies.

[39:05] He's your greatest treasure. see Jesus with the eyes of faith, what he had to do, die and suffer, and you will suffer too, and who truly is, the Messiah.

[39:21] Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, the Son of David, who brings salvation to those who respond to him, by placing faith in him alone. You must see with your heart, not just your eyes.

[39:36] And this opening of your eyes, it continues. For us as Christians, we need the eyes of our hearts and lightness that we may know his hopeful call, our rich glorious inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing great power that's given to us as Christians.

[40:00] The same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead is the same power given to us as Christians. we must see this so we will live differently.

[40:16] Take a few moments and ponder what we've seen in God's Word. Looking here towards the end of Luke chapter 18. Think about the truth that you've heard.

[40:29] Think about the truth that you've heard. Focus upon that and let it dwell upon your mind. Take a few moments for you to do that and then we'll do our time of giving.

[40:44] And then we'll sing a song and then we'll prepare ourselves for the Lord's Supper. Okay? Take a moment and think and ponder. Django inCena google and수를 supplication and Lupe si de si di Thank you.