Good morning. I have to say it's good to be here especially today. There's certain mornings everything works against you. The Irish are good at nighttime, we're not very good in the morning, so daylight savings is automatically working against. Then this morning, at about five, the youngest threw up. That's always fun.
And then I was driving down to church thinking, well done, Andrew, for getting out with all that going on, on time, and I got a flat tire. But we're here. I'm really thankful to be here. This is a special morning in the life of our church because we have members of our church, and we were praying for them a few moments ago over in Ireland, serving in three other churches, getting to represent us and encourage.
They will have already been in worship with believers there. They'll be meeting again for evening services this afternoon. What an amazing thing that part of our local body are getting to go and to be a blessing. And I want you this week in particular to be remembering them and praying for them because that's what we do. We are partners in this work. So, we want to be praying earnestly that God would really use our church members who have gone overseas to be a blessing to the local churches there that they come in contact with.
It's also a very special Sunday for our church because Ron Hewitt has brought with him a good friend of our church, Sukumar, and I want to say a special welcome to you. Please, everybody, just give a round of applause. And I'll tell you why in a second. This gentleman is a pastor in India who we as a church have had the blessing of being able to support and try and encourage the training work that they do, and we are so delighted that you are with us today.
Yeah. And then, last thing I want to mention is the elders. We meet often, but we were meeting early on Friday morning, and we were just talking about just the nature of what God is doing in the church.
And one of the things that we have started to pray earnestly about is the Lord would give us wisdom how to steward the gifts that we have in the church. And there does seem to be a number of people who have a desire to learn how to teach and handle God's Word well. And so I say that because in the next number of weeks we're gonna have a few opportunities, and we'll give more information about this soon, a few opportunities for those who would have a desire maybe learn a little bit more formally how to use God's Word just to come together to identify themselves so that we as elders can begin to pray about how do we handle that well.
So, I say that because if you have a desire to for some training on understanding the Bible, how to handle it, how to share it, maybe in the context of preaching, absolutely, but in the context of other ministries within the church where that would be helpful. I want you to be actively praying that God would help you discern if this would be something that would be a way of strengthening your own ability, gaining more resources, so that when we come maybe to start to ask who would be interested, you would already have a clear mind about that. So, then we as elders can begin to work out what stewardship we have here and how can we best put in place opportunities for people to be trained in the handling of God's word and the proclamation of that.
There's nothing in place yet. The elders are just very much at an early stage of trying to discern what we could do and in part of that, it's important for us to ask people of the church, is this something you would want? So, please be praying for that reality as well.
Now, if you have your Bibles, could you open them up, please, to Luke chapter 18? Luke chapter 18. And I want to read from verse 28, Luke chapter 18. I'm gonna read from verse 28. Jesus has just spoken with the rich ruler who came to ask, what must he do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus has just made so clear how there really is nothing you can do yourself to inherit eternal life. Verse 26, all who heard it said, then who can be saved? And verse 27 finished with those encouraging words, what is impossible with man is possible with God.
So let me begin reading from that point at verse 28.
(Scripture reading) “And Peter said, 'See, we have left our homes and followed you.' And he said to them, 'Truly I say to you, there is 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.”
And taking the twelve, He 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 spit 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 saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. Hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant, and they told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.' And he cried out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' 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 sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” (End)
Let's pray.
(Prayer) Our Heavenly Father, we thank You that you're a God who is active all around this world. We thank You for even a testimony of that today with our brother Sukumar being here from India. We thank You, Lord, for the testimony of our members from this church that have gone and already have met and worshiped with brothers and sisters there on the island of Ireland. We thank You that you are a God who insists that in time every tribe, kindred, and tongue, that there will be individuals from those that will know and worship Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And yet we thank You, Lord, that not only are You a God concerned with the global need and the global church, that You are able to minister here individually to us as we gather together.
And so, Lord, we pray to that end. Help us to see more of Jesus. Help us to understand more what we ought to be and how we ought to think. Encourage us from the Word, rebuke us where it is needed, correct us where it is needed. Lord, help us in this time to be nourished by the bread of the Word, that we may love you more and serve You with greater earnestness. We pray for any who as yet, Lord, they are spiritually blind, and we ask that You graciously would show mercy to them, take the scales from their eyes, and allow them to see the beauty of Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray, amen. (End)
One of the hardest things about the Christian faith is that it's a religion of faith, that really, as Christians, what we are hoping for is something that is yet to be, a reality that is yet to come. We will live in a world that is perfect, with a King who perfectly rules, where people will treat each other with perfect love and perfect kindness, and all will be as it should be. And by faith in the perfect finished work of Jesus Christ, we long and have a genuine hope, a guaranteed hope in that reality yet to come.
But the problem is the here and now. In the here and now, you get flat tires. In the here and now, you experience hardship. In the here and now, we suffer with weak and frail and broken bodies. In the here and now, we do, even as believers standing in this world, draw a hostility from the enemies of God.
That's just the reality. And if it was just about the here and now, we would be foolish, Paul says, this would be pointless. We are hoping in a way that is real, in a way that is genuine, in something that is yet to come. That's the nature of faith. And because of that, it is easy to lose hope. It's easy to get discouraged. It's easy to have your head pulled down and to feel the weight of living with an anticipation of what is to be and yet reminded that we in this moment are in the mess still. And so, what we need is more faith, an ability to see something that you cannot see with just these physical eyes. An ability to look beyond, an ability to live in light of that reality, that spiritual reality that we belong to God, and His agenda will take place, His work will be done, His plans will be accomplished, and because of that, His people will be saved fully unto Him.
And so, as we go through the text, I know it may look a little bit choppy. We have three sections, and in each of these three sections, there is a specific point that is being made, but I hope that as we go through, you will see the connection between them, because there is a mounting argument, a mounting call that Jesus has really given to us today to be able to see, to live in light of what is yet to come, to live as a people of faith or faith. So, the first thing I want you to see in the text is the cost that pays. The cost that pays. There's a lot of contrasts that we see in this particular story, and the first one is when the disciples respond after seeing God's—Jesus'—dealing with the rich ruler, they themselves have a question about cost.
And unlike the rich ruler who is helped and caused to see that though he wants to do anything to get into the kingdom, really his identity is in his riches, his love is in his wealth, and because of that there is an impossible obstacle to be climbed over. And so, the disciples, who have left to follow Him, they bring to Him a question. This rich man had found identity in his riches and been told that he cannot be saved. The disciples had been reminded that he cannot be saved, because his identity was in the wrong place. And so, the disciples have an earnest, noble, real question. Jesus has just said in verse 27, “what is impossible with man is possible with God.” Verse 28, "and Peter said, 'We have left our homes to follow you.'"
The word homes there is trying to help us understand the nature of their belongings, but it's not talking about just the physical house. It's talking about all that we have. All that is in that home, not just the building. It's talking about your belongings, your goods, your livelihood, your all, everything that you possess. That's what's in mind here.
And Peter is basically saying, Lord, we have left everything to follow you. We have left behind, we have forsaken the things that we once had in order to walk your walk, to pursue what you are leading us towards. So, you see the dilemma. Jesus has told the rich ruler, you know, to give what he has to the poor and to come follow, And in that society, disciples and lots of other people would have thought that the rich were being blessed by God, and so they rightly say, if this rich man cannot enter the kingdom of God, who then can be saved?
And Peter's, he's reasoning that out. He's thinking carefully. And Jesus says, look, it's impossible for you to do But God can do. God can do. And so, Peter's wondering, well, will God do for me? Because I have left. I have committed. I am following. And he's not insincere. This is not a prideful statement. This is a genuine question from a man who has left to follow, has left to remain committed.
And so, Jesus answers accordingly. Look at verse 28 or verse 29. "And Jesus said to them," to all the disciples, "Truly I say to you, There is 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 the age to come eternal life." In verse 29, Jesus recognizes that His followers, these disciples, have made real sacrifices.
And the implication is for us today, those of us who have made sacrifices, He sees it. He knows it. He recognizes it. And part of the calling to follow Christ is to not have our identity in these other things. The man who walked away sad just previously walked away sad because he was a rich shriller. Now, the issue wasn't that he was rich in the sense that he had money.
For so many of the followers of God in Scripture were blessed and had wealth. Abraham was one of the wealthiest men of his day, because God blessed him. Joseph, whose Scripture speaks of so warmly, was a wealthy man. King David, King Solomon were men blessed materially, along with many other ways, by God.
So, what I want you to see is the sin is not the wealth, but the sin is the fact that this man is known as the rich ruler. His identity was in his wealth. That's the issue. That's the problem. Here is a man who found his worth in his bank account, in what he had, in his belongings. And that's why Jesus presses him the way he pressed him. Give it all away and come follow me. Jesus says that because there's no way this man was gonna give it away. Because that's where his sense of value was to be found. But here Jesus recognizes that those who do truly come and truly follow, they will have made sacrifices.
For some it will be wealth, the identity and their belongings, their job. For some it will involve their identity and their family. Well, one of the greatest barriers that you often find to evangelism is people can start to understand the logic of the gospel and be interested in the gospel, and then whenever they realize that there is a commitment that is called for that sets them apart from their family, that becomes a huge obstacle. In Ireland, one of the hardest things in terms of evangelism is so many people find their identity, even if they don't go, in their Catholic background. And so, to become an evangelical Christian is an anathema. It's to be separated, to be cut off from the family, to be removed from that family identity, and that feels like an impossible thing for many people.
And yet Jesus here in His Word acknowledges that reality. That in finding our identity not in these earthly things, even if in and of themselves there may be much good in them, to be able to not find our identity in those things, but to instead find our identity as a follower of Jesus Christ, that will always come with cost, with real sacrifice. But Jesus assures those men in this particular incidence who have made that real sacrifice that there is real blessing that follows it.
Verse 30, "they will receive many times more in this time than in the age to come eternal life." He's talking in two dimensions. In the age to come, they will receive eternal life. We get that. We've already talked this morning about really the greatest hope for the Christian is that which is yet to be, that we will live with Christ in that world that is perfect, free of sin and any of the marks that that curse of sin has on this planet and on our existence. What a glory is yet to come! And to be realized in the heart of the believer, what a reality we are looking forward to. And yet notice it doesn't stop there, because Jesus insisted that there is blessing also, there is multiplication also, in this time too. In this time too.
He's talking about the blessing and part of the Christian community. And I think those who have gone from our church on these short-term teams, they're going to come back enriched. And we're all going to wonder what's happened to them. The blessing that they will have experienced is getting to rub shoulders with their brothers and their sisters in another part of the kingdom. There is a glorious kinship to be found within the Christian community. There is a reality where when you become a Christian, you will sacrifice for the Lord, but you will gain a community that the Lord places around you, a sincere and genuine group of people that, because you're united in Jesus Christ, there is a bond that exists between you.
I've shared with some of the church before about my father grew up in a family that were not believers, and God worked really through the witness of a friend at high school to draw him to church, and gloriously God opened his eyes, and he was able to respond to the call of the gospel by the grace of God, and he was saved.
But his family relocated to Australia, and he was taken with them. And to try and to cement the relationship and the closeness of the family, he was barred from going to church. And one of the heated arguments between him and his father, and my grandfather said to him, Stephen, you've got to realize that blood is thicker than water. And all he could think about was the blood of Jesus Christ and the bond that exists between every true believer around this world that knows him.
A union that will not last for 30, 40, 70, 80 years, but a union that is eternal, that will not fade, that will not rust, that will not waver. We are bound together. That there is a family that we are part of. There's a glorious blessing that is experienced in the here and that will be magnified in the then. So, Jesus makes clear, there is a cost. But friends, it is eternally worth it. Disciples need to be reminded, and this is what Jesus is doing.
There is a time for him to speak to the rich ruler to say, you can't bring that identity, that identity that's attached to your riches into the kingdom. It all must go. The Lord does not save those who are confident in what they must do. He saves those who come knowing they can do nothing and cry for mercy. And so, our identity can't be tied to any of these things.
And yet, to the sincere follower of Christ, He reminds you that there is blessing. That He sees that sacrifice. And He will bless, He will reward. He is no man's debtor. He paid the debt, and He is no man's debtor. He rewards the sacrifice that is made for Him. Sometimes what stops some from becoming Christians is they become aware of the cost, and I don't want to make anything light of that cost, it is real.
Jesus says those who are going to follow Me must be willing to take up their cross to follow Me. There is suffering in true Christianity. There is hardship in true Christianity. There is sacrifice in true Christianity. There is a real cost. The Bible also adds that while that cost is real, it is possible to taste and see that the Lord is good. And those who have been genuinely saved can tell you very honestly that there is much difficulty that accompanies their Christian walk.
There is much sacrifice that they continue to have to bear and live with the consequences of. And yet there is a sweetness in that walk. There is goodness to be found in that walk. There is joy to be known in that walk. For our Savior is no man's debtor.
So here, first of all, in the text, we are reminded of a cost that pays. Secondly, then, Jesus speaks of suffering that accomplishes.
Suffering that accomplishes in verse 31 to 34. Here again, Jesus speaks so boldly and clearly about His passion, about the cross work that sits in front of Him. Now, it's a great reminder, isn't it, that when it comes to Jesus Christ, the cross did not take Him by surprise.
He was not some noble man, some good teacher who the crowd got the better of Him. He knew what was ahead of Him, and He marched towards it. He knew what was ahead of Him because the Old Testament had spoken so clearly about it. And so, remember the context. Jesus is speaking to men who have sacrificed, and He has acknowledged their sacrifice. Verse 31, "and taking the twelve" He's still speaking to those same men. He says to them, verse 31, "see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished."
It reminds them that suffering is nothing new. Sacrifice is nothing new. Hardship from the world is nothing new, but this pattern has been spoken of long before. The Old Testament is full of testimony about the hardship and the suffering that will accompany the righteous walk and indeed will accompany the walk of the Messiah Himself. It's a pattern that the Old Testament makes clear. He would have to go in. And so, do you see what's happening? The disciples are wrestling with, oh, there's a real cost. Is it being seen? And is it going to be worth it? And Jesus says, friends, it is so worth it. In this life, yes, and in the life to come, absolutely.
And then He points to a personal example, to the example of His person. He gives them a clear illustration that suffering is not an end in and of itself, but suffering is the means by which God works to accomplish His purposes. He points to what will happen to Him. So, you see the issue. The disciples are, is the sacrifice we're personally experiencing worth it? And Jesus answers them in part by saying, let me tell you my story. Let me remind you what I will do and the path I will walk that you will follow me in. Look at verse 32 as he explains that path.
"For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles." Jesus here would be rejected by the very people He came to help. The Jewish people who were meant to be anticipating the Messiah, who spoke often off the Anointed One. who spoke often of the Christ that was to come and to work amongst them, that very people that said that was what they were looking forward to, that said that was what they were anticipating, they would reject Him. And instead, the people to whom the Messiah was promised, they will hand Him over to the Gentiles. He would be so rejected; He would be given to a different people.
Look at verse 32 as well. He will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. Jesus speaks again, informed by the Old Testament, and He makes clear, He knows what is ahead. He knows not simply that he will die, but that He will be so poorly treated in the run up to it. His life will be marked by mockery. He will be shamefully treated. In other words, people will in time be embarrassed by the way they handled Him.
They should be embarrassed by the way that they handled Him and spit upon. Even today, it's hard to think of a more tangible insult than spitting on somebody. It's not the same as beating or whipping or the cross, but we know it's a sign of disgust. It's a sign of rejection. And this is the way that the Messiah Himself promised of old would be treated. Look at verse 33. He's going to be physically assaulted.
And after flogging Him, He knows what will come. We'll read later on and look about the whipping that He got, the Romans would have whipped with a particular whip that had glass or bone and all attached to the end of these leather thongs, and when it would smash the back, it would lock in, and it would rip apart the flesh. Men constantly would die just from the whippings that would be inflicted upon them. And here Jesus, the great Creator of the universe, the Designer of the body, the Word that became flesh to dwell amongst us, would have from the hands of those He came to help the very flesh ripped off His back.
And verse 33 adds, “He would be killed.” They will kill Him. They will kill Him. A title used in verse 31 that governs the one that is being spoken of the Son of Man. So often we think of that as a title limited to declare that Jesus is human, but that would be a limited reading.
It is a title that first appears in the book of Daniel, and it speaks of the one who would come to reign over His people, the mighty conqueror. The one with all strength, the one with all power, the one with all dignity, the one who is regal. So don't think of it as a term that speaks of humanness. Think of it as a term that speaks of kingship, of royalty, of dignity. And yet the one who possesses that quality, the one that is king, will be handed over by His own people to the Gentiles. Will be mocked, physically assaulted, killed.
We read next, on the third day, He will rise. Before we get to the rise, just notice that three days. In other words, He's really dead. He's going to be brought to a point not just of fainting, not just of exhaustion, not just of bed rest, but of clear and certain death. He will be buried in a tomb, and there will be for days no movement. The soul will have exited the body. He's as dead as you can be dead. That's the idea here. That's part of the reason why three days are given between the crucifixion and the resurrection. It's to be a testimony to the world that this One who came truly died.
He truly gave His life as a ransom for many. Again, remember the context, Peter saying, Lord, we sacrificed much. Will it be worth it? Yes, Peter, it will be worth it. And now Jesus says, in an even greater way, Peter, I will sacrifice much, and it will be worth it, because verse 33, “He will rise.”
The resurrection is not just a comforting note on the end of the gospel, it's the very hope of the gospel. Death has been defeated; sin's curse has been broken. The resurrection is a declaration that the work is finished. If in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve sinned, death was brought into the world, whenever Jesus finished His work, He was raised from the dead, because death has been defeated.
It's an amazing reality. He's trying to communicate to the disciples, not just, look how much I suffer. But notice the journey. If you're following me, you're going this way. And the end of His suffering will be glorious exaltation. The end of His suffering will be victory. A proclamation that death has been defeated. He has raised triumphant. And the hope is, disciples, as you follow Him, you will suffer greatly too but know there is an end. Know there is a redemption. Know there is a vindication that He will bring about.
And Jesus' point about suffering, it's not simply to inform them this is going to happen. It's to lay the groundwork, because the disciples, Peter, who thinks he's given up a lot to follow Him now, it's only about to begin. If you know anything about Peter's story, this is the easy part. The hardest bits are ahead of him. He's going to experience prison. He's going to experience flogging. He's going to experience hardship and rejection and correction. He's going to, according to church tradition, experience crucifixion himself.
And here Jesus is preparing. We're told, aren't we, in verse 34, at this moment in time, they don't get it. But Jesus is laying the groundwork for what is yet to come. That in time, those disciples will remember, as they live out that reality of following Him, that He has gone the way before them. That He has plowed the way.
In Ireland, there's these little mountains. We call them mountains. You would probably call them hills. You know, everything has to be so big to Americans for them to be impressed. But they're extremely beautiful, the Mourne mountains. But when you go to the Mourne's as a young person for the first time, and I assume it's the same if you've ever gone out hiking, there is a temptation where you know we have to go from here to here, and you wanna just go straight. And you wanna go through the grass, and over the river, and through the marsh, because that looks quicker. But that's never the way we go, or if we do, we take a long, long time to get there. If you've ever hiked, you know the best way to go is on the path that has already been trodden, where someone else has cut a way through. where other footsteps have walked that path to crumple down the ground, to make it sturdy, to make it easy to walk along, have moved the brambles, have made it possible to trek that trek. Well, Jesus is calling the disciples to see something of that. He is not asking you to do something new, but to follow, to follow the path while trodden. And in that, there is hope to be found.
Whenever people began to move from the colonies across the west of this country, you had going in the front those, sometimes I think they're crazy, but confident pioneers going to places where nobody has trod. Doing the hard work of finding where the water was located. Where little towns and civilizations could pop up and be sustained. And then coming behind where others who were in and of themselves brave, it wasn't a simple or easy journey. But it was much easier than that of the pioneers. And they would follow the path that had been already plowed and settle in the locations where they knew life could be sustained. And yes, there was suffering, and yes, there was risk, but it was not like those who went first. What Jesus is saying, Christian, none of us have to go first. He's pioneered the way. He's gone before us.
And in that sense, we can have the confidence that our suffering in this life is temporary, and that in that, He will sustain, and He will bless, and He has guaranteed the vindication, the worth to be made clear in time. Jesus is saying, though there is a real cost to discipleship, a real suffering that it brings, you need to remember that suffering accomplishes. And he has pioneered that reality in his very life and work. We follow him, and he wants us to remember that as he suffered, we will suffer. But as He was vindicated, we too will be vindicated. So, there's cost that pays, there's suffering that accomplishes, and lastly, there's faith that sees.
Faith that sees. It seems like a whole separate incident. And one level it is, but the point is clear. Verse 34 tells us the disciples at this moment don't get it. They don't see. It says, this saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what He said. They can't perceive what Jesus is trying to communicate.
And I think that's important because that links it very neatly to the next paragraph, where there is a man who cannot see and yet sees more than anybody else. Here we get to the heart of how believers can press on. When suffering comes your way, how is it you keep putting one foot in front of the other?
We need to have faith, faith in the person of Jesus Christ and the reality that He is, of what He is working in this world. The majority of the world will fail to see Him. But faith is that ability to see what the human eye cannot in itself detect. The greatest of all realities, that reality of the identity of Jesus Christ.
Notice the man that is spoken of in the text here, verse 35. "As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging." Here is a man who is blind. Now, blindness, that physical ailment in the biblical world was very common. And it was seen frequently. There were many different reasons why an individual would be blind. But one of the greatest problems with being blind was often the community around you associated that reality, that sickness, that ailment, that disability, with sin itself.
In John 9, verse 1, it says, "As Jesus passed by, he saw a blind man from birth. And his disciples asked Him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'” That's how people thought. To be blind was to be punished, to be under curse.
It was an indication of your sin, or possibly your parents' sin. It was a severe handicap. It was something that restricted what you could do. It even restricted an ability to become a priest, according to Leviticus 21, verse 18. And so, because the individual was so restricted, and because there was this air of suspicion around them that they must have been or are sinful, the individuals who were blind were often left to beg. The Old Testament law, Deuteronomy 27, 18, Leviticus 19, 14, give laws in particular about people not to abuse those who are blind.
Now, when you give a rule. Like in our house, we have many rules, you know, put your plates after you eat in the dishwasher. That's a rule in our house. Why do we have that rule? Because they don't naturally put their plates in the dishwasher. So, if in the Old Testament you have rules about the need to treat people with blindness kindly, to not give them wrong directions, that was one of the rules in Deuteronomy. What does that tell you about how people treated individuals with blindness? They ridiculed them. They mocked them. They made life hard for them. The people were desperate. It was huge.
You think of a world without glasses. I'll not make it happen but imagine I got everybody who's wearing glasses in the room to stand up. You'd see there's this, I can see up here, there's a significant number. But this is a world without glasses. And so, people were desperate. If you had boils around your eyes, quickly they were burst. People would work hard to take eyelashes out. There was a huge industry in ointments and balms in order to try and preserve sight. People were desperately trying to hold on to that ability to see.
But there wasn't an effective treatment, that's the point. There wasn't something that worked. Though there was lots of effort made, there was nothing that had been found that could deal with the reality of blindness. There were no antibiotics, there were no glasses in that world, there were no effective surgical procedures. And so, for those who were afflicted with blindness, it was low, helpless, irreversible situation that they find themselves in, which is why this particular man, according to verse 5, finds himself begging.
We're told that he is in Jericho. Jericho was on the main road to Jerusalem, on the main road to Jerusalem. And so, pilgrims who would have come maybe from Galilee or other parts and were heading towards Jerusalem to worship at the temple, they would pass by this particular road.
That's why the beggar is there. He knows many will walk in front of him. And he needs money; he's no way of providing for himself. He's helpless. He, verse 36, he needs the crowd even to tell him that Jesus is there. And so, this man is in a hard, helpless situation. And there's something good in that. Because the rich ruler, what did he come and say? What must I do? Here's a man who knows fine rightly he can do nothing. There's something beautiful in weakness, isn't there? Because weakness throws us upon the need of God to work.
So, this man is presented not with his own identity simply, but Jesus' identity. The crowd tell the man, did you notice that Jesus of Nazareth is there? The guy who came from that place, Andrew from Ireland. It's just a kind of throwaway statement. But did you notice how verse 37 reads, they told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, and then verse 38 says, he cried out, Jesus, what does he say, not of Nazareth, but Son of David, have mercy on me. That this man sees something the others miss. They see a man from Nazareth.
He sees the Son of David, that one that was promised in the Old Testament. The Old Testament spoke of the anointed one, the Messiah who would come, who would be a descendant of David, and He would be able to be king over His people and lead them in a way unlike any other earthly leader. Isaiah 35 spoke of how this one that would come would be able to heal the blind. That this man had hope in the Messiah, the Son of David, who would come, and his address makes that clear. He understood something about Jesus that everybody else missed. He saw what nobody else saw that day.
When you go to the pharmacy, to know what you would need. Allergy season, antihistamines, okay? The U.S. pharmacies are wild, because the options are endless. It's very hard to work out what this one does, that this one doesn't, because they all have the same ingredients in them. There's so many options.
Well, sometimes people come to Jesus and treat him like that, like He's one more option. Lots of different ways to clean up your life, lots of different ways to get morally together, lots of different ways to move forward with some level of hope, and they approach Jesus like one more thing. This man realized in the text that Jesus is not one more option, one more person that could put money in his begging jar, but that He was unique. He was the Son of David, the Messiah that was promised, and therefore the only one in whom help could be found.
And so, the man called, in verse 38, for mercy, for undeserved kindness. A call for mercy is a recognition, I have nothing to bring, and he calls for mercy. He continues, verse 39, despite his peers trying to stop him. And verse 41, he calls for Christ to do what is impossible for man. He calls him to heal his eyes. Nobody could do that. That was impossible. But again, remember, verse 27, what is impossible for man is possible with God. He calls upon the nature of Jesus. In fact, verse 41, he calls Him Lord, the Master, the One in control.
He's aware of his personal unworthiness. He knows his need for mercy. He's undeterred by what others say. He recognizes Jesus as Lord. He's desperate for Christ. Desperate for Christ to do for him what he cannot do for himself. That's the gospel. That's a great picture of the gospel. You have nothing to bring, but you can call to Him for mercy. You can have confidence that He does because look at how Jesus responds.
He dignifies this man. In contrast to the crowd in verse 39 that try and get him to be quiet, Jesus commands him to come and to share. He gives him time. He's willing to serve him. Verse 41, “what do you want me to do for you?” What an amazing question to be asked by Jesus. And He healed him. Verse 42, He gave the man back his sight.
And I think the text implies more. Verse 42, “recover your sight, your faith has made you well.” That word well is not the same as healed. It's the word that we would sometimes translate saved. Your faith has saved you. There seems to be a hint in the text of more than just physical healing of the eyes. There's a healing of the heart that's gone on here too. Jesus is so kind to this man under the curse of sin. He does for him, because the man cries for mercy, that which nobody else could. That's the gospel. And the transformation is so clear. Look at verse 43. Immediately he recovered his sight. He can see again. The curse, its effects are removed from him. He followed him. Where once he was stuck, he couldn't really go anywhere.
Now he uses that sight to pursue Christ all the more, glorifying God. He worships God. This is a heart transformed. And then even afterwards, and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. He's a living testimony to the world. Here is a man who is truly transformed, not just made able to see, but truly transformed. His eyes are healed, but his heart is transformed in a way that now he can follow and he can worship. It's an amazing picture, isn't it, of how the gospel works.
And there's a call, I think, here very simply. The temptation of those who are dabbling with Christianity is to wonder, what must I do? We've mentioned it many times this morning. But here is a man who comes the way we must all come, recognizing the cost is real, recognizing that following Christ will bring suffering, but knowing that mercy is to be found from Jesus Christ.
And as we call to Him for mercy and begin to follow Him, we discover not just that there is eternity, but even this life is made richer by following Him. Friends, there is a Jesus to be known, and He is to be found not in human effort, but like this desperate beggar by an appeal to God for mercy.
Let's pray.
(Prayer) Heavenly Father, we do thank You for the Scriptures. We thank You for this very clear picture and look of one who could not help himself. And yet found through the mercy of Jesus Christ more than he could ever think or imagine. We pray and ask, Lord, that You would grant us the grace to stop striving for what we must do, and instead to call upon you for mercy, and to be able to rest in the mercy made available by Jesus, to give our lives to following and to worshiping the One who has plowed the way before us, for He is worthy. And in His Name we ask it. Amen. (End)
