Luke 18:35-43
It is such a tremendous privilege to welcome you to worship today, we're so glad that you are here with us today. As Christians, we are more than individuals who happen to share the same beliefs, we are the body of Christ consisting of many people, in which Christ Himself is the head, a spiritual community that loves one another, prays with and for one another and supports each other with our time, our talents and our resources. When we pray together, we acknowledge our shared dependence on God, and one another, when we intercede, we bring the needs, struggles, hopes, and burdens of our brothers and sisters before the throne of grace. That doesn't mean we are all alike, in fact, it is by God's design that we are all different. God has intentionally given different members of the body different abilities and responsibilities.
Some teach, some encourage, some lead, some serve quietly, some give generously, some intercede faithfully, and some bring comfort to those who are hurting. When every member offers the unique gifts that God has given them for the good of others, the whole body becomes stronger, healthier, and better equipped to carry out the mission of Christ in the world. That's why no gift is insignificant. In a world often marked by isolation, Christians do not turn away from one another’s burdens; we help carry them, by demonstrating the sacrificial love of Jesus. Even when we cannot solve someone’s problem ourselves, we can still stand beside them, by giving of our time, offering love, patience and compassion, reminding them that they don't have to face difficulties alone. I believe when we invest our time in people, we reflect the heart of Christ, Who always made Himself available, even when it was inconvenient, to help those who were in need. Sometimes investing in people means walking with a family through a crisis—praying with them, sitting with them in the hospital, helping them make difficult decisions, or simply reminding them that they are not alone.
At other times, it may mean meeting practical needs: helping provide groceries for a household facing hardship, collecting clothing for children, assisting with rent or temporary shelter, offering transportation to work, church, medical appointments, or school, or sharing a meal with someone who feels forgotten. These acts may seem small in the eyes of the world, but in the hands of God they become powerful expressions of His love. The early church beautifully modeled this kind of Christ-centered community by generously sharing what they had so that no one among them lacked basic necessities of life. They didn't view their possessions, time, or abilities as things to be guarded selfishly; they saw them as gifts entrusted to them by God for the blessing of others. I believe this is still the calling of the church today. When the church feeds the hungry, comforts the grieving, visits the sick, supports the struggling, welcomes the lonely, and bears one another’s burdens, the message of Christ becomes visible. The Gospel is not merely to be proclaimed from a pulpit, but lived out through the people of God who loving care for one another in His name, giving credibility and living expression to the Gospel we preach. People may forget many of our words, but they will often remember the Christ following believer who showed up to help them in their time of need, and the church who prayed with them when they had no strength left, or the family that opened its home and table to them in a difficult time.
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. In James 4:2, he tells us "You do not have because you do not ask." And, in Philippians 4:6, Paul writes "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."
Let's pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we come before You with thankful hearts, not just for the Truth of Scripture, but for the glory of Your Son, the Truth incarnate, the living Christ, our Lord and Savior, Whom we dearly love and humbly serve. Father, we ask that You would open the eyes of the blind among us, and give them understanding that the Gospel may be believed and fully embraced, so that salvation may come to every soul for Your eternal glory. We ask and pray these things in Christ's most precious name. Amen.
Today's Message: When Faith Refuses To Be Silenced
In our society, we often use the words eyes and sight as figures of speech, an indication of how we perceive something. When something catches our attention, we often say it's "eye-catching," and a surprising discovery may be called an "eye-opener." And, when we watch something closely or carefully, we are said to "keep our eye on it" or asked to "keep our eyes peeled" for something. And when we finally understand a difficult matter, we say, "Now I see clearly." In Scripture, the eye is considered the organ of perception, it is frequently used figure of speech indicating of how we perceive spiritual things, to recognize what is important and the ability to respond rightly to it. It reveals not merely what a person is looking at physically, but what that person is looking for—and ultimately, what rules the heart. Biblically, a person can have healthy physical eyesight and still be spiritually blind, hearing the Word of God proclaimed without being able to perceive its Truth. When God opens the eyes spiritually, He gives more than information; through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, He grants understanding that transcends mere intellectual knowledge. He enables people to then experience the reality of His presence, His character, and discern divine purpose in their lives.
For example, in 2 Kings 6, when Elisha’s servant was terrified by the Syrian army surrounding the city, Elisha prayed, "Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Elisha’s servant’s circumstances did not immediately change, but his perception of them did. What initially appeared to be a hopeless situation was, in fact, a scene of divine protection. I believe this is the same struggle many Christians deal with today, they can often see the frightening diagnosis, the financial strain of lost employment or a broken relationship, or the uncertainty of tomorrow but until God opens their eyes so that they may see beyond what is visible, all they can see is what appears to be a hopeless situation. Faith does not deny the reality of trouble; it recognizes that God is present, sovereign, and powerful in the midst of it. What we fix our eyes upon shapes our inner world, influencing our thoughts, our desires and our choices. In Romans 12:2, Paul exhorts, Christians are to reject superficial values and behaviors of a secular world system, which often oppose God's ways, and undergo spiritual transformation "through the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect." As I stated in our last message, though Christians are under grace, we are not granted a license to habitually continue in the same sin that Christ delivered us from, otherwise, our redemption is in vain. Continuing to habitually sin is incompatible with biblical salvation. By the way, for the Christian, persistent, excessive worry is considered sinful, indicating a lack of faith, trust in God's promises and failure to rely on God’s provision. (Psalm 55:22) The biblical response to anxiety is to cast our cares on God through prayer and thanksgiving, seeking His kingdom first rather than being consumed by future uncertainties. (1 Peter 5:7)
Open your Bibles with me if you will, and please keep them open to the Gospel of Luke chapter 18, where we will be looking at verses 35 through 43. It is fitting that Jesus' earthly ministry is bracketed by His first public miracle, which took place at Cana in Galilee, an insignificant village in the north, in the foothills atop the Sea of Galilee, where He turned water into wine at a wedding feast. And, His final public miracle before the cross, which takes place in the south of Judea, near Jericho where He healed a blind man named Bartimaeus as He made His way toward Jerusalem, which we study in our text today. In between those two miracles, Jesus walked through the towns, villages, synagogues, homes, hillsides, teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the Good News that the kingdom of God had come, while compassionately demonstrating His deity by miraculously healing lepers, restoring movement to paralytics, delivered the oppressed, feeding the hungry, raising the dead, forgiving sinners, calming storms, and opening blind eyes. I'd like to encourage you to follow along with me as I read. I pray that we all will listen well to what the Spirit is saying, with an open mind and a receptive heart. I believe that Luke 18:35-43 will preach to all of us.
"Now it happened that as Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was. They reported to him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." And he called out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who went ahead were rebuking him so that he would 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, and when he came 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, "Receive your sight; your faith has saved you." Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God."
Let's begin by looking at verse 35, "Now it happened that as Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging." Jesus is deliberately walking toward His suffering in Jerusalem. Matthew tells us there were two blind men sitting by the road, which is not surprising, since beggars traditionally would hang around just outside the city gate, where the people would enter and leave the city. However, both Mark and Luke simply focuses on one to tell the story of his conversion, Mark gives us his name, but here in Luke's account, he is simply "a blind man sitting by the road begging" for what others could spare. When most people think of Jericho, the Old Testament ruins of Joshua 6, when God instructed Joshua and the Israelites to march around the fortified city once a day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day, led by seven priests blowing ram’s horn trumpets and carrying the Ark of the Covenant, the people were commanded to give a loud shout, which caused the city’s massive walls to collapse miraculously, allowing Israel to conquer the city. So, there were actually two Jericho's. The New Testament Jericho was largely populated, and was flourishing. I mention this because skeptics of the Bible, bring up the fact that both Matthew and Mark say He was leaving Jericho, while Luke says He was approaching Jericho. So, it's quite possible that Jesus was leaving the Old Testament Jericho and approaching the New Testament Jericho.
If you have ever visited Jericho, you've likely noticed Mount Quruntul, the massive rock mountain overlooking the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, northwest of the city in the West Bank, that casts a shadow over Jericho as the sun goes down every evening, which archaeological research suggests an ancient connection to the Tower of Jericho. Some scholars believe the Mount of Temptation, is very likely the location where Jesus was tempted by the devil during His 40-day fast in the Judean Desert. A rugged, barren land, with sharply rising severe cliffs, steep dramatic escarpments, and deep ravines that lies between the Judean Hills and the Jordan Valley near Jericho. Surely, He would have remembered that. The Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation, built into the cliff face, contains a Grotto of the Temptation where Jesus is thought to have have lived, which contains a specific stone in the chapel's apse, traditionally believed to be the very spot where Jesus sat when Satan offered Him all of the kingdoms of the world. As He is approaching Jericho, the town is likely buzzing about the miraculous event that happened a just a few miles up the hill in Bethany weeks prior: Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days, and Jesus had gone there and raised Lazarus from the dead—and everyone knew it. In fact, the news of Lazarus' resurrection had already made it's way up to Jerusalem and the religious leaders who wanted to kill Him. So, to say that He had become the undeniable epicenter of intense scrutiny is an understatement. The whole city must have been in a chaotic uproar as He passed through on His way to Jerusalem. So, in the middle of all this chaos, Luke, by the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, takes the spotlight of divine revelation and zeroes in to find one particular unnamed beggar in need of His mercy, in a city that had beggars everywhere. Thanks to Mark's parallel account, we learn the blind beggar's name is Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. Scripture records that blindness was a major issue in the ancient Near East, and Jesus healed many of them, including a man blind from birth, fulfilling Messianic prophecy (Isaiah 35:5; 42:7). Blindness was so common that Jesus used physical blindness as an illustration of what it was to be spiritually blind to the things of God. In John chapter 9, one such man is recorded as saying "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." If you will recall, the blind were believed to be unclean sinners, below the normal riff-raff, below the typical sinners, under the judgment of God. I am very deeply concerned for those who claim to be saved but have no desire to abandon their past and serve the Lord. Jesus has not only the power to heal, but to save sinners, transform them into obedient followers. If the desires of your heart hasn’t changed, there's a good possibility that you have never really been saved.
Verse 36, "Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was." Unable to see the crowd going by, he hears its movement different than the normal flow of people, indicating that something significant was happening, so he begins to inquire about it, which ultimately becomes the doorway through which he learns that Jesus is near. That's sort of a human inclination when we don't know what's going on, isn't it? The Greek expression Luke uses behind "he began to inquire" conveys the idea of an ongoing inquiry rather than merely a casual asking out of curiosity. A massive crowd of people, lots of conversations happening, so it's completely understandable that a man who cannot physically see would immediately try to discover what all the commotion meant. I believe that more often that not, genuine faith often begins with a holy disturbance—something significant that makes us realize that God may be present rather simply than full knowledge or an understanding. What the others may have considered an inconvenience, for Bartimaeus became a glimpse of hope. In Romans 10:17, the apostle Paul later expresses that "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
Verse 37, "They reported to him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." Sometimes all a person needs is to hear that Jesus is near, because when genuine faith recognizes His presence, it refuses to be silenced—it must cry out. When you are confronted with the Truth in Scripture, do you brush it off, disregard it as merely information or are you moved to cry out to the Lord, begging for mercy, in recognition of your spiritual poverty? When an opportunity to call on Christ comes, do not assume it will always come in the same way again. I thank God, that while I was wondering through life lost in utter darkness, stumbling along the pathway of sin, believing I was "good with God", when Jesus opened my eyes and gave me the gift of genuine salvation!
And verse 38, "And he called out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Mark uses an onomatopoetic term, the verb "krázō," it’s a very strong word.
that means to shriek with deep emotion, to cry out loudly with an urgent scream in desperation. Desperation always recognizes its true condition when we stop pretending that we can manage our own situation. The contrasts are striking: the crowd had proximity and recognized Him as "Jesus of Nazareth" while the blind beggar had perception, I'd like you to notice that he doesn’t say, "Jesus of Nazareth," he screams, "Jesus, son of David, focusing on His messianic title in order to capture His attention. He knows exactly Who Jesus is, and he know that only He can provide what he needs. There's a sense of humility in his anguished cry "have mercy on me," I believe it's because he knows that he's not worthy, and understands he is completely dependent on Jesus' mercy to be healed.
Verse 39, "And those who went ahead were rebuking him so that he would be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Bartimaeus paints us a perfect picture what desperation looks like when a person realizes that no human resource can resolve his problem. Notice his desperation was actually intensified when he was opposed. He was blind, dependent upon others, and reduced to begging. Now Jesus was passing by—and Bartimaeus understood that this might be his one opportunity. He refused to let the opinions of the crowd become louder than his need for Christ. I can tell you from my own personal experiences, when the obstacles become greater, the cries for Jesus becomes louder. Let me tell you, to this very day, I have never gotten over what Jesus did for me. I know that deserved to die in my sin and spend eternity in hell, but by His magnificent grace, I've been saved, redeemed, rescued from the penalty of sin, healed by His saving grace. The sinful desires of the past, no longer have a hold on me. I thank God, that while I was wondering through life lost in utter darkness, stumbling along the pathway of sin, believing I was "good with God", when Jesus opened my eyes and gave me the gift of genuine salvation! Oh, make no mistake, Satan still attempts to "lure" me back by using those old desires of the past from time to time, but there is now a genuine desire to resist those temptations, and live faithfully for Him, even as they may occasionally still rear their ugly head. Jesus will help you in the midst of your brokenness, forgive your sin, save your soul and give you peace like you have never before known, if you will cry out to Him and ask for mercy on you. I am very deeply concerned for those who claim to be saved but have no desire to abandon their past and serve the Lord. Jesus has not only the power to save sinners, transform them into obedient followers. If the desires of your heart hasn’t changed, there's a good possibility that you have never really been saved.
Verses 40 and 41, "And Jesus stopped 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?" Let's stop there for a moment, this is a man who has been crying out in the crowds, who faith in the person of Jesus Christ. People who have never been in a desperate situation may not understand the urgency of your circumstances because they do not carry your burden. When a person recognizes their need for Jesus, they cannot afford to let anyone silence their cries for help. This is the kind of faith God desires.
What is especially striking is that Jesus already knew what the man needed. Yet He deliberately asked him to articulate his request. Bartimaeus answered, "And he said, "Lord, I want to regain my sight!" I love this, perhaps it's because I am living proof that God can do the "impossible," several times over. That kind of faith isn't just born, it's made—through seasons of immense desperation. Apart from His resurrection, this will be the last public miracle. Since God already knows what we need and why we need it, I believe He asks us brings our requests before Him to expose whether we truly know what we need, whether we are willing to be honest about our needs, and whether or not we believe Christ is able to meet them, whether spiritually, physically, or financially. It amazes me that our Sovereign Lord, the High King of Heaven, , the Creator of both Heaven and Earth chose to become the servant of this lowly blind beggar, considered among the lowest social class, below even unclean sinners, Who takes special interest in the lost, the broken, the rejected, and the marginalized through His servant-hood. This serves as a final indictment against Israel’s apostate leadership who claimed spiritual sight but failed to recognize the Messiah. Jesus is communicating a very important spiritual truth not only to the disciples and all of us who feel were just "too busy," too important to be bothered
Verse 42, "And Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has saved you."
In Matthew's parallel account in chapter 20, he says Jesus was "moved with compassion." The Greek verb "sozo," means far more than physical healing. It means to be saved, rescued out of danger of the penalty and power of sin and brought into the provision of His safety.
That brings us to verse 43, "Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God." What makes this verse especially beautiful is after he was healed, and regained his sight, he demonstrated clear evidence of his salvation: he immediately left his old life behind and began following Jesus with a new desire to walk with Him and to serve Him, and glorify God. True salvation always leads to genuine transformation. Faith is not the source of healing power; it instrument that connects to the Hand of the True Healer. The most critical thing you'll ever determine is whether you are a true follower of Jesus Christ or whether you are forcing yourself to perform in a role that contradicts your natural tendencies. Your blindness will never get better on its own, you must first remove the toxic influences of your past that continue to cloud your vision. Now is the time to resist those temptations, and live faithfully for Him.
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
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