"29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30 And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" 31 The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" 32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 33 They *said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened." 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're so glad to have all of you here with us today. We continue to lift all of you up in our prayers. We ask that you would do the same for us.I thank God for those of you who have been so moved by His Spirit to support us in the ministry, whether by sharing the ministry website, and social media platforms with your family and friends, or financially. I humbly ask you will continue to join us in praying, and ask God to continue to bless this ministry in reaching the lost, the broken and the hopeless. to Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're so glad to have all of you here with us today. We continue to lift all of you up in our prayers. We ask that you would do the same for us.
The famed psychologist, Carl Jung, once said, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil." Therefore, hurry, is the great enemy of your spiritual life. Satan distracts us so that we will settle for a mediocre life instead of the abundant life God wants to give us.
I remember the days when we use to park, get out of our car and go inside, sit down and order our food and enjoy a meal. We’ve gotten in such a hurry that most people go through the drive thru. Jesus had a lot to do but he was never hurried, He always made the time to stay connected to His Father. I believe that’s why He always had time to faithfully serve others. It is ironic that in our service to God, we feel the need to eliminate being connected to God, the very place we need to start. I believe that further demonstrates how darkened our minds have become, transformed by the ways of the world.
The greatest danger for the Christian, is that he will become so distracted, so rushed that he will pass through this life and never really live it, failing to slow down the pace of this life to spend time with God, and develop a servant’s heart. There are people in this world who desperately need ministered to that are being passed over. Most of us see life as beginning with birth, which we don’t
remember, and death, which we can’t imagine. Jesus teaches us about having a much different
perspective on life, one that has no end. I believe when we truly begin to understand that perspective, we will live differently, serving God and His church will become a priority in our life. Those hearts have been touched by the compassion of Christ go on to serve the people they encounter with love and patience. May God open our eyes to see this life from His perspective.
Heavenly Father,
In His precious name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: Touch Of The Master's Hand
It’s important to realize that the blind are not the only ones who cannot physically see, those who are spiritually blind are trapped, held captive in Satan’s kingdom, incapable of understanding they're dead in their trespasses, separated from God. While others, trust their eyes to discern the true light, are in reality deep in darkness because of self-deception. They are totally ignorant of their own spiritual condition, they have absolutely no hope of finding God on their own, they can only be rescued by a divine miracle. Spiritual blindness is a tragic, grievous condition. Because the world is blinded by Satan, they cannot perceive the divine workings of God that are present all around, unable to see His glory in creation. False Christians, when confronted with gospel truth, will make excuses and justify their sin and rebellion toward God. The eyes are useless, when the mind is blind.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
Open your
Bibles, if you would, to the twentieth chapter in the Gospel of
Matthew. Matthew chapter twenty, verses twenty-nine through thirty-four. I now invite you to follow along with me as I read these verses to you. Let us open our hearts and minds, to see what the Spirit of God has to say to each of us today. Matthew 20:29-34
"As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" They *said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened." Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him."
This is a tremendous demonstration of the compassion of Christ, even with His death being just days away, He would of course be preoccupied with the disciples, who would soon carry on His legacy. It would been all too easy for Him to have become distracted, as He looked upon Jerusalem. Even while redeeming the world, Christ was not too busy to give sight to two blind men. Interestingly enough, these two physically blind men appear to have magnificent spiritual sight.
Sadly, because of rampant, uncontrolled sin, spiritual blindness, is even more prevalent today than the physical blindness in Jesus' day. Physically, the world sees very well, spiritually, there's nothing but absolute darkness. I believe Satan adds to that blindness, by blinding the minds, making them unable to comprehend the truth. In His judicial judgement, God compounds that blindness by hardening their hearts, as with saw with Pharaoh in the book of Exodus, chapters 7, 8 and 9. Jesus said He came to give sight to the blind, I believe He is speaking primarily of the spiritual blindness.
In John 8:12, He said "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
However, these two men needed mercy and they knew that they needed Jesus, even though they couldn’t see Him, they knew He was there. They knew if they could capture His attention, He would see them. This is a marvelous picture of what Jesus able to do to the heart.
Let's look at verse 29, "As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him." When you cross the Jordan from the east, Jericho is the first city you see. The Old Testament Jericho, in Jesus' day, was ruins but the New Testament Jericho, which was just south of there, I mention this because in his parallel account, Luke says, "As He came near Jericho." This is not biblical error, simply a different perspective! It’s possible Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, who was fascinated by Jesus lived near the Old Testament Jericho. When Jesus redeemed him, he said, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." That's what true redemption does! Quite the opposite reaction of the rich, young ruler, who wanted to keep everything isn't it? The true Christian is willing to give everything he has away just to have Christ.
New Testament Jericho was known as the City of Palms, it was very beautiful. Much like Southern California in terms of geography and climate. It was after finishing His ministry in Galilee and Perea, after He reminded the twelve He would give His life a ransom for many, the anticipation of His own death only days away, He begins the journey to Jerusalem. Then Matthew writes, "A large crowd followed Him." People everywhere He went were drawn to His magnetism, His teaching, and His ability to preform miracles of healing. Everyone except the religious Jewish leaders, who hated Him and were plotting and planning to kill Him.
Verse 30, "And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" Luke tells us they were "sitting by the road begging." In studying the Bible, we know the beggars traditionally would hang around just outside the city gate, where the people would enter and leave the city. As Jesus and His disciples come to the gate, these two blind men who had probably been there a while, cry out "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" They were crying out His messianic title to capture His attention. The title, Son of David, is used to indicate that they know that Jesus is the Messiah. They were saying, "We know You are the Messiah, we know You can help us!" They were blind, so where did they get their information? Matthew wants us to see what they were saying, he focuses on the majesty of Christ, rather than what they were doing.
In Mark's parallel account, he goes a step further and gives us the name of only one of the two men, Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. It was not uncommon for a Gospel writer to mention two, and then focus on one. I believe it's because when he pens the letters that are written to the Church, they would have the story of the conversion of one who they now greatly love, their beloved friend Bartimaeus.
In verse 31, "The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The word cry here, is the Greek verb "krázō," throughout the New Testament, it's used to describe the screaming of demon-possessed people, it's also used to described the anguished cries of the desperate, which is the case here. If you've never experienced it, allow me to tell you that desperation is powerful. You can really feel their anguish. These two men know this is their one shot so they were literally screaming frantically, crying out in desperation. Notice they made no claim as to their worthiness. There’s a sense of humility in their intense desire to be healed. But the crowd tried to silence them, but they refused to to be silenced. It seems as though the world is always trying to keep people from getting to Jesus. Perhaps they didn’t want them to slow Jesus down. However, we’re not told exactly why the crowd wanted them to stop. It doesn't matter, they cried out for mercy all the more because they had come to the place of humility and desperation. So they persisted because they knew that they couldn’t help themselves, they knew they had to get to Jesus.
Jude 21 says "Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." Just as Jesus had mercy for these two blind men, He has mercy for you and me! In your hopeless situation, have you cried out to Jesus for mercy lately? In this world, many people think they're too important to stop what they're doing, to make time for you, pastors and church leaders included, because they have meetings with someone "more important" to talk to. Not Jesus, the Creator of heaven and earth, He has time for you, yet how often do we seek Him as a last resort rather than our first option? I'd like you to stop for a moment and just think about all that Jesus had coming up with His betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion, yet, He took the time to stop everything that He was doing and focus on these two men. When you cry out to Him for mercy, Jesus hears you and has time for you!
Verse 32, "And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
What a tremendous demonstration of tender compassion on behalf of these two persistent men in need. Obviously, Jesus wasn't asking them this because He didn’t know, He felt their need. He wanted them to submit their request to evoke out a greater expectation of their hearts. In Philippians 4, Paul writes "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."
In James 4, he tells us "You do not have because you do not ask." Mark 10 says "And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him here." So they *called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you."Take courage is the Greek verb "tharséō," meaning to have unflinching courage, confidence that is Spirit-produced. When we come to God with our prayer request, we can trust that He hears our requests, and believe that He will meet our needs according to His great will and wisdom.
That brings us to verses 33-34, "They *said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened." Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him."
I absolutely love that, He was moved with compassion, Jesus touched them. Instantaneously, they were healed, made to see, Christ created seeing eyes! I am in awe how God is able to create something out of nothing. As a footnote, notice Matthew says "they regained their sight," the Greek word "anablepó," meaning it was recovered, which implies they weren't born blind, but instead lost it at some point during their life. Their great faith made them whole. But what makes this verse especially beautiful is after they were healed, they followed Jesus.
Luke 18 says "Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God." What a tremendous illustration of transformation, both physically and spiritually.
In Closing..
Throughout the New Testament, there were many people were healed who didn't have faith, however, faith is necessary for salvation. Imagine their desperation as they cried out to Jesus, hoping that He would hear them. Has your life been changed by Jesus? If not, may I encourage you to cry out to Him today, He has time for you. Just call upon Him and ask Him to change you, to help you in the midst of uncertainty, to heal you or to give you peace, while you're at it, ask Him to forgive you of your sins.
If you’ve been touched by the compassion of Christ, I pray that is your testimony. Following Him and praising God. If you need someone to pray for you just send us a message and ask. If you think that you don’t need Jesus, think again. Because when you have Jesus Christ, you have everything you need.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen