Welcome morning. If you would, open your Bibles
with me to Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20. Lord willing, we'll finish up
this chapter this morning. Before we begin, let's bow together
in prayer. which art in heaven, holy and
reverent is your matchless name. And Father, we bow before you,
a humbled and a thankful people. How thankful we are for your
mercy and grace you've provided for your people, all found in
our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, I pray this morning
that you would open your word to our hearts, that you would
be our teacher, that you would apply your word to our hearts,
that we might believe the things of our Lord Jesus Christ that
we hear taught and preached and that you might cause us to come
to him, to trust him, to rest in him, to cast all the care
of our soul upon him. Father, we thank you for this
place. We thank you that you've provided a place and a people
where we can meet together in peace and unity and to worship
together. Father, I pray you'd enable us
as a congregation to serve our generation by preaching Christ
our generation and that you would bless your word to your glory
and to calling out of your people. Father, we thank you for all
the things of this life that you've given to us and for those
that are in times of difficulty, sickness, many different trials
and heartaches of this life. Father, we pray that you'd give
them a special portion of your presence to comfort their hearts,
that you'd heal, that you'd deliver, that you'd provide a way out
when it could be thy will. Father, all these things we ask,
and we give thanks in that name which is above every name. In
the name of Christ our Savior, amen. I've titled the lesson this morning,
Why the Lord Stood Still. There's a utterly amazing statement
made at the beginning of verse 32 of Matthew chapter 20, and
Jesus stood still. Jesus stood still. What made
him stand still? Now the Lord is leaving Jericho. He's on his way to Jerusalem. He's going there on purpose.
He knows exactly what's going to happen there. He's told his
disciples about it many times. He's going to go there and redeem
his people by his sacrifice, by his suffering for his people,
by being made sin for his people. putting it away by his sacrifice.
He knows that's what he's going there for. He set his face like
a flint to go there. He wouldn't turn to the left
or the right. He knows the agony that awaits him. He knows that
this is the hour of hours that's coming. This is why he's going
to Jerusalem. Now you think about what's on
his mind. How are you when you have important things on your
mind? This is what was on his mind, on his heart. Didn't the
Lord have more important things on His mind than two beggars
sitting over here by the wayside? No, He didn't. No, He did not. And I want to teach this lesson
this morning, by God's grace, in such a way that each of us
will be encouraged to seek the Lord, to call on Him and beg
Him for mercy, forgiveness for our souls. This is still the
thing. It causes the Lord of glory to
stand still. Nothing is more important to
him than showing mercy to his people. All right, here's the
first thing I want us to see about these blind men. Maybe
we can learn from their example in seeking the Lord. These blind
men sat where the Lord would pass by. Verse 30 says, and behold,
two blind men sitting by the wayside. Now, I'm sure these
two men were well known to people of that town. They were beggars.
That's the only means of support. They were out begging somewhere
every day. Maybe they had their favorite
spots to go. It was more lucrative. There
were more people passing by, more people would give to them
or something. But this day, they were sitting at a specific spot
by this wayside, not in the main center, the population center
of Jericho, but on the way out. of Jericho. It makes it sound
like Matthew does, that they're there on purpose, that this place
is on purpose, the road leaving Jericho. It could be they were
like Zacchaeus. They knew the Lord was to pass
by that way and they went there begging. They sat there hoping
that the Lord would pass by them and have mercy on them. And this
is why I just betcha, I betcha they were there early. I betcha. The Lord was passing by that
day, that day. He may not ever pass by that
way again. And they couldn't afford to miss him. They couldn't
afford it. Now if anybody here is seeking
mercy from the Lord, we would be wise to follow the example
of these two blind men. These two blind men, you know
the story already. You know how it ends. They receive
mercy, don't they, of the Lord. If anybody here is seeking mercy,
we'd be wise to follow the example of these two objects of God's
mercy. We'd be wise to make sure that
we find ourselves in the place where the Lord promised that
he'd be. The Lord promised that he would be in the midst of his
people. When his people meet together to worship him, When
they meet together to open his word, to read and study his word,
have his word preached to them where Christ is preached, where
his name is worshiped, the Lord himself promised he personally
would be there. If we'd like the Lord to show
mercy to us, it'd be a mighty good idea to be where he is.
Don't you reckon? Today, the gospel is being preached. Today, Christ is being preached
and he promised he'd be here. And if we're wise, we'll be like
Cornelius. Remember he told Peter, we're
all here to hear, to hear a message from you. The Lord is passing
by this way today. He may never do it again, but
he's passing by today. Wayne and I were talking about
making plans for the New Year's Eve service. The Lord willing,
we'll have New Year's Eve service. Lord willing, there's no guarantee.
There's no guarantee we'll finish this one. No guarantee if tomorrow,
the Lord's passing by today. Today is the day of salvation. Did we be wise to seek the Lord
today? Wouldn't we? Seeking where he's
found. That's what these men did, and they received mercy.
All right, here's the second thing. These blind men heard
of Jesus. They sat by the wayside, and
when they heard that Jesus passed by, Now, these men were blind. They couldn't read. They couldn't
read the newspaper. They couldn't read accounts or
whatever of the Lord, but they could hear. And they heard. They heard some things about
the Lord. They heard how the Lord had healed other blind people.
You reckon blind people heard of that and latched onto that
with hope? They heard. They heard how the
Lord healed the blind. They heard how he healed every
disease. They heard about those people
that brought the sick ones to the Lord and He healed everyone
that had need of healing. They heard of that. They heard.
And since they heard that, you know what they were sure of?
The Lord could heal them. They didn't know how He healed
the blind. They just knew He healed the blind. So this is
what they were sure of. The Lord could heal them. And they heard that He was passing
by. And you know what they did? They
begged Him for mercy. They begged Him for mercy. Now
hearing is important. Faith cometh by hearing. And
hearing by the word of God. We teach God's word verse by
verse. We preach through God's word
verse by verse for this reason. Faith cometh by hearing. And
hearing by the word of God. It doesn't matter if you hear
what I think. It doesn't matter that you hear
about what all these other great preachers of the past have said.
What matters is what does God's word say? We need to hear God's
word. Faith cometh by hearing. If we're
gonna find out who the Lord Jesus Christ is, we're gonna have to
hear the truth. The truth about who he is, the
truth of his gospel, the truth of his word. And if anybody here
is seeking mercy from God, tell you what I'd do if I was you.
I'd make it my business to be where Christ is preached. I'd
make it my business That's the only way that we're ever going
to hear from God. That's the only way that we're
ever going to meet him. And the truth of that concept
is very simple to understand. I remember when, uh, when I first
laid eyes on this little girl who some years later would become
my wife, And I mean, I was utterly infatuated with her. I wanted
to meet her. You know what I did? I made it
my business to be where she was, hoping to meet her, hoping someday
I could ever screw up enough nerve to talk to her and meet
her. If you want mercy from the Lord,
you want to meet the Lord, tell you what I'd do, I'd make it
my business to be where he is. He just might find you. It'd
be just like him to do it, wouldn't it? That's what happened to these
men. All right, here's the third thing. These blind men, they
cried out for mercy. They heard that Jesus passed
by and they cried out, saying, have mercy on us, oh Lord, thou
son of David. Again, this might sound like
a pretty simple thing, but you know, the truth usually is pretty
simple. You don't have to spend a lot
of time with the truth. The truth is normally very simple.
If you want mercy from God, it'd be a mighty good idea to begging
for it. Don't you reckon? And they cried, that's what they,
they cried out. Now this was not a cry demanding something
from God, just because you begged God for mercy doesn't obligate
him to show mercy to you. It's not a cry demanding something
from God because listen, that's not our relationship with God.
It's not we cry out, God's going to give us, you know, this is
a cry begging God to give us something. And we beg him for
it because we don't deserve it. We don't deserve for him to be
kind and merciful to us. I know I don't deserve it. That's
why I'm begging. I know I don't deserve it, but
I'm begging for it anyway. That's what these men, they cried
out begging God for mercy. And their cry was a cry of faith. This, this begging is a cry of
faith. They begged the Lord for mercy.
You know why? They were sure he had the power
to give it. They were sure he had the power to do for them
what they needed to do. That's faith. It's believing
he is able. Did our Lord ask that man, do
you believe I'm able? Oh, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Believing he's able, crying,
begging him, that's a cry of faith. And this is what they
cried. Oh Lord, thou son of David. Now that's a cry of faith. They
cried Lord, Lord, acknowledging that the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
God, and he has dominion over me. He's the Lord, the king over
me. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's the
sovereign, he's king, and he doesn't have to do anything for
anybody. You know, just like I said a
minute ago, it's not our begging that obligates God to have mercy
on us. That's why we're begging. He's
the Lord, the Lord of glory. And they also cried, thou son
of David. This is the God man. He's the
Lord. He's God. And he's the son of
David, the son of man and the son of the son of God and the
son of David. They cried, they cried to the Lord, called him
who he is, the son of David. Now to the Jews, that's a very
important name. The son of David's the name of
the Messiah. They knew the Messiah would, the savior would be the
son of David. And they cried out to the Lord
knowing he is the savior of sinners. That's a cry of faith. Now someone
might say, well, I've cried to the Lord. He hadn't answered. What do I do if the Lord doesn't
cry? It doesn't answer when I cry to him for mercy. Well, let's
keep following the example of these blind men. They wouldn't
quit crying. See, this is the cry of faith.
They won't quit. Verse 31. And the multitude rebuked
them, because they should hold their peace. But they cried the
more, saying, have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. They would not quit. Now, the
great big religious term for that is importunity, importunity. It just means I won't shut up. It means persistence. Now look
back at Matthew chapter 11. Our Lord told us to cry to him
this way. He says this, he hears this kind
of persistent cry, this importunity. Matthew chapter 11 verse 12 from the days of John the Baptist
until now, the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent
take it by force. Now, what does it mean? The kingdom
of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
Well, now it doesn't mean somehow that we overpower God, you know,
to get into his kingdom. We've done something that makes
God do something for us or makes God let us into his kingdom.
That's not what it means. This is what it means that the
violent take it by force. It means that we have an urgent
need. And since we have an urgent need,
we won't quit seeking Christ. We won't quit begging for mercy.
It means that I have such an urgent need. I'm going to put
energy into this thing. It's not like, you know, I can,
I can take it or leave it. I'll, you know, I'll go worship
the Lord. If I, if I have anything better
to do, you know, if I, if, if, if I've got time, you know, I'll,
I'll make it to the service. No, I'm going to put some energy
into this thing. It's important to me. My soul
depends upon it. The violent taking it by force.
I think this is a very good illustration, Jake, It means laying hold on
Christ and refusing to let go. He may damn me, but if he's going
to damn me, he's going to damn me, hanging onto his feet, begging
for mercy. Now what Jacob told the Lord of Bethel, I will not
let you go except you bless me. The violent taking it by force.
means we don't say, well, now, I believe in election. So whoever
be saved will be saved. God's elected me saved no matter
what happens. And there's nothing I can do about it. Now, let me
tell you, there isn't anything that you and I can do to save
ourselves. You're right about that. But
that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do. These men were blind,
and they didn't say, oh, well, nothing I can do about it. If
the Lord's gonna heal me, he's gonna heal me, nothing I can
do about it. They didn't take that attitude, did they? We can
beg God for mercy. We can ask him to forgive us.
And I tell you what, when my need is great enough, that's
exactly what I'll do. Taking the violent, taking it
by force means I'm seeking God with all my heart. And I won't quit. That is the
attitude that the Lord gives everybody he saves. Look at Luke
chapter 18. Not only is this just a good
idea to cry to the Lord and keep crying to him and keep crying
to him and refuse to quit crying to him, not only is that a good
idea, our Lord taught us to pray this way. He said, this is the
kind of prayer that stops me in my tracks. Luke chapter 18
verse one. And he spake a parable unto them
to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. saying
there wasn't a city, a judge, which feared not God, neither
regarded man. And there was a widow in that
city and she came unto him saying, avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within
himself, though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this
widow trouble with me, I'll avenge her. Lest by her continual coming,
she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what
the unjust judge sayeth. Shall not God avenge his own
elect, which cried day and night unto him, though he bear long
with them? I tell you, he will. He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, so he find faith
on the earth. And he tells us here, you pray
and don't quit. And you keep calling and you
keep calling. He said, I'll hear that prayer. And he goes on.
We won't read it, but he goes on with the parable of the, The
two men that came to the temple to pray, the Lord hears an insistent
prayer of a mercy beggar. He hears the prayer of somebody
begging for mercy every time. Now he's not going to hear the
cry of a self-righteous hypocrite, is he? Who prays less with himself,
but he hears the prayer of a mercy beggar stops God almighty in
his tracks every time. Now, if anybody here, is there
anybody here that wants mercy from the Lord? Tell you what
to do. You keep coming to hear the gospel. You keep being where the Lord
promised to reveal himself to his people. You keep coming,
you keep coming here to hear the gospel, you keep coming to
God and begging him for mercy, and don't quit, because the Lord
himself said that's the prayer he hears. That's the prayer that
stops God in his tracks. Now here's the fourth thing.
Salvation is of the Lord. Look back in our text, Matthew
20 verse 32. And Jesus stood still and called
them and said, what will ye that I shall do unto you? And they
said unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. Jesus had
compassion on them. He touched their eyes and immediately
their eyes received sight and they followed him. Now, These
two blind beggars, they did everything right, didn't they? They sat
where the Lord would be passing by. They had a cry, a cry of
faith, they had a cry of persistence, they cried begging Him for mercy.
In that way, they did everything right. But that's not why they
received mercy. You know why they received mercy?
The salvations of the Lord. The Lord came and He passed by
where these two men were begging. Now that just happened. They just accidentally happened
to be there. They heard the Lord might be passing by. Maybe he
will, maybe they... The Lord ordained this moment
that he would meet those two men from before. Now they didn't
know it, but God ordained it from before. Before he created
anything. It was always God's purpose that
he meet these two men at this exact spot, on this exact day,
at this exact minute. And that's where he met them.
The Lord passed by that way. You know why? He came to seek
and to save that which was lost. He came to them and they received
mercy. You know why they received mercy?
Not because they did everything right. They received mercy because
the mercy giver came where they were. If Lord ever saves you
and me, we're going to say the exact same thing. The Lord came
where I was. The mercy giver came where I
was. It's not that I came to him. It's not that I did everything
right and was all in the right place at the right time, doing
the right things. The mercy giver came to me where
I was when I was blind and helpless and dead and had mercy on me.
He came where I was. Salvations of the Lord. The Lord
stood still and then he called them. He called them. I know they were calling on the
Lord, but now who made them call on the Lord in the first place?
Who gave them a need? Who made them realize their need?
Who is it that made them call in the first place? The Lord
did. He made them call on Him. Those blind men were calling.
That's true. But mercy drops started falling
on them when the Lord called them. That's when the Lord revealed
Himself to us. And if the Lord ever saves you
and me, we'll have this same experience. One way or another,
we're gonna have this same experience and this is what we're gonna
know. This is gonna be our testimony. The Lord chose me. The Lord redeemed
me. The Lord came where I was. The
Lord called me and he made me come to him. What's the difference
between, I remember growing up, sitting under the sound of the
gospel, had friends my age. All of us, lost as could be,
blind as a bat. Bunch of those fellas, not around
anymore at all. Don't hear the gospel, they're
not around at all anymore. Some of us are. We all heard
the same pastor say, you come to Christ. Why did some come
and some didn't? We all heard, you come to Christ,
God'll save you. You come to Christ, he's the
one you need, you come to him. Why did one come and one not?
Because the Lord called one. And when the Lord calls, his
sheep come running. He called me and he made me come
to him. Salvation's of the Lord. Matthew
says the Lord had compassion on thee. The Lord was getting
ready to go suffer like no one has ever suffered at any time. Nobody ever will suffer like
that. Wasn't he thinking of his own
suffering? Not so much that he couldn't have compassion on their
suffering. He had compassion on them. The Lord, when he heard
the cry of a mercy beggar, was moved with compassion. Anybody here have need? I encourage
you to call him. He had compassion on these mercy
beggars. And if Lord ever saves you and
me, this is what we're going to confess. The Lord saved me
because he was moved with compassion. I couldn't do one thing for him. I was so needy, so filthy, so
vile, so wretched, so lost, so helpless. And the Lord had compassion
on me. Salvations of the Lord. The Lord
touched me, touched me. Yes, we are to reach out and
touch the Lord. We sing that chorus. Reach out and touch the
Lord as he passes by. You'd be wise to do it. The woman
with the issue of blood tells us that. She tells you crawl
up behind him. You touch the hem of his garment.
But now healing power comes from the Lord. It's not our touch.
It's his power that heals us. When he touches us, everything's
different. If the Lord ever saves us, you
and me, this is going to be our song. He touched me. Oh, he touched
me. And oh, the joy that floods my
soul. Something happened. I can't fully
explain it, but something happened and I know it. And this is why
it happened. He touched me. He made me whole. See, it's the cry of a needy
sinner that stops the Lord in his tracks. Now, if you're a
needy sinner, you call on him. You call on him. All right, here's
the fifth thing. These blind men, received their
sight. They received it. Verse 34 says
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately
their eyes received sight. Now that word's very important.
They didn't earn mercy because they did everything right. They
didn't earn mercy because they ask, you know, just the right
way. They had just the right posture.
They had, they had all their religious ducks, you know, lined
up in a row. So God had mercy on them. They received mercy. They received it freely from
the open hand of the mercy giver. They received mercy because the
Savior gave it to them freely. Remember, he's leaving Jericho
to go to Jerusalem to purchase the salvation of his people,
purchase the right to freely give mercy to whom he will. That's what he said in his great
high priestly prayer, John 17. The father's given all things
in his hand that he might give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given me. And when he gives it to them,
he gives it to them freely. He paid the price. He paid the
price and he gives it to them freely. And they received their
sight. Now nobody here has ever been
blind, as far as I know, but these men were blind, probably
blind from birth. They'd never seen anything. They'd never seen a blue sky.
They'd never seen a sunset. They'd never seen a flower. They'd never seen the smiling
face of a loved one. Just blackness. Can you imagine
them receiving their sight and the first thing they ever saw
in this life was the face Jesus Christ. And really, that's the first
thing the eyes of faith. See, see clearly. We see the
glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. We see the glory
of God, that God would save a sinner like me by the obedience of his
son, by the death of his son, by the slaughter of his son.
And I'll tell you, that's when you know that the Lord has given
you sight, that you've received sight. You don't just have the
right head knowledge of doctrine, but the Lord has given you sight.
It's when you see Jesus Christ as the savior and you never see
anything as glorious as that before. That's when God, it's
not, it's more than doctrine. It's a person and you see him.
That's when you've received your sight. Here's the sixth thing. They followed Christ. At the
end of verse 34 says, and they followed him. Well, of course
they did. Of course they did. Whenever
the Lord has mercy on a person, that person is going to follow
Christ. They're going to follow him.
And you just, you can't run them off. You can't get them. to stay
away. They can't keep away. They need
him. It's just not like, well, now
he's given me my sight and I can go off on my merry way. No, he's
given me my sight. I've received my sight and this
is what I see. I need him. I love him. I want to be with him. I'm going
to follow him. Yeah, I've received my sight.
Now I want to learn more of him. I want to be with him. Whenever
you love somebody, you want to be with them, don't you? They
followed Christ. If God has mercy on a person,
they'll follow Him. There's a new master. There's
a new way of life. There's a new life. There's a
new way of life because there's a new life. There's a new love. There's a new need. And all of
that need is met in one person. In the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we follow Him. We follow Him. And just like
a dog, following its master. We follow him. And you know what
we find? He keeps giving mercy. He keeps
giving mercy. I keep receiving at his hand. That's the cry that stops the
Lord of glory in his tracks. I hope that encourages all of
us to cry out to God for mercy. All right, Lord bless you.