Seeking once again the help and
guidance of the Holy Spirit, I'd like you to turn with me
to the second chapter that we read, the Gospel according to
Matthew, chapter 9, and the text you'll find in verse 27. And when Jesus departed thence,
two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on us. This is the 16th miracle of the
Lord Jesus Christ and as we have seen many of these miracles have
contextual teachings by which we can see the same miracle and
yet there is a further teaching to be found in the context of
what is going on. And as we saw with the man from
the Gadarene We saw that that portrayed the
external effects of sinful nature. We saw that that is the fruit
of a corrupt heart, the fruit of someone who is outside of
the covenant of grace, somebody who is still at enmity with God,
still in the kingdom of darkness, and that those who are outside
of Christ are liable to possession, they are liable to a downward
spiral in sin. And so we saw that that portrayed
that external fruit of a corrupt nature and those things that
were evident in his life. And then we saw the lady with
the issue of blood, something that could not be visibly seen. It showed that not only is the
external able to be seen but it shows the corruption of the
heart that God not only sees the external sin but he also
sees the corrupt nature of our hearts and as we saw that unseen
sickness defiled That lady made her unclean. She was unable to
enter into ceremonial worship. She was isolated from society. And so many of these miracles,
or many of these people who came to the Lord Jesus Christ, they
were showing us the internal and the external effects of sin. Baba tells us that because of
sin death entered into the world and we remember that Adam was
to labour now not in peace and harmony with God and with creation
but that creation itself would work against him that he would
labour day by day to provide for his family and he would sweat
thistles and thorns was the earth going to bring forth, it was
going to be a labor for him. Not only was he going to, not
only was he the earth against him but his relationship with
God was severed and also he was going to know the ongoing effects
of the corruption that sin had had upon his body. Sickness is as a result of the
fall, the curse of death that had been brought into this world.
All the time that Adam and Eve were still in a relationship
with God there was no death, there was no sickness, But as
soon as they sinned, as soon as they rebelled against God,
they began to die. And as we looked at the other
day that there are multitudes of ways by which God causes us
to leave this planet. Multitudes of ways by which he
brings that death upon us. And we saw in the last couple
of weeks, we have that with Charlie Kirk, 30 something years old,
being shot in the neck and dying instantly. That was the way that
God had ordained for him to enter into eternal life. Now we've
had another minister of the word of God, 57 years old, Vodi Bochum,
taken in a moment. That is the way that God has
ordained. Death is the end result but the means by which death
comes is varied and because of sin because sin has entered into
the world there are multitude of sicknesses which bring about
death. Multitudes of ways by which God
takes people from this earth. And so as Jesus continues his
ministry there are two blind men that begin to follow him
crying out, Thou son of David have mercy on us. These men seemingly We can say, though the Bible
doesn't say, but they would have been impoverished as we see blind
Bartimaeus sitting at the road begging. as the Lord Jesus passed by and
I doubt these men were in that same condition sitting at the
wayside begging, hearing that crowd passing by, hearing of
the Lord Jesus Christ, hearing of the miracles that he had been
doing. And as they heard about the Lord
Jesus Christ, something stirred within them that they believed
that this Lord Jesus was able to bring about their healing. Something is far deeper that
is going on within the minds and hearts of these two blind
men. These two blind men cannot physically
see, yet they're able to determine that Christ, the one passing
them, is not just an ordinary prophet. He's not just somebody
who's able to do miracles. They understand by the words
that they declare that he is the son of David. That he is the promised son that
had been promised to King David. Throughout Matthew, nine times
we read of this saying, son of David. David had been promised. that he would have a son that
would be on his throne that would be an eternal throne. Those years
before prophet Nathan speaking to David prophesied of Christ
and his eternal kingdom. Remember when the angel came
to Joseph He says to him, Joseph, our son of David. We read through
the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's traced all the way
back through to King David. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is in them testifying that he is the son of David, testifying
that he is the Messiah, the anointed one, the one that had been chosen
by God. If you remember John the Baptist
who says, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of
the world. And so John viewed Christ by
faith as the Lamb of God. These two blind men who could
not physically see the Lord Jesus Christ, their bodies were sick. Their bodies were, we would say,
they're disabled. They did not have the full faculties. Yet in their blindness, they're
able to view by faith the one who walks before them. You think
of the multitude that were round about the Lord Jesus Christ as
we saw with the lady with the issue of blood. Multitudes were
pressing on the Lord Jesus Christ yet only she came to him and
touched him by faith. Only she was the one that received
healing. Only she was the one that went
away forgiven. Multitudes were pressing but
she knew who he was. She had eyes of faith. to come
and trust in him and to rest upon him as her only hope. The
same with these two blind men. Multitudes followed the Lord
Jesus Christ. Yet they saw the Lord Jesus Christ
for who he was. In their blindness they had eyes
of faith to trust him as the son of David. The one who was
able to heal them. Maybe they remembered the words
that were spoken to Moses when the Lord says, it is, let me
turn to it. It is God who makes, sorry, Exodus 4 from verse 10. And Moses said unto the Lord,
O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since
thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of
a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who
has made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb or deaf
or seeing or blind have not I the Lord. Maybe they remembered those
words and they realized that it's God who has put us in this
frame it's God that has put us into this situation God has made
us to be blind people it's part of his providential plan that
he may be glorified in our sickness but he's also the one that is
able to heal us. And we understand that the one
passing us, he's been healing others and faith stirs in their
hearts that they trust this one to be the Messiah, the anointed
one of God. They trust this one to be the
son of David. Job also tells us in Job chapter
5, verse 18, it says, from 17. Behold happy is the
man whom God correcteth therefore despise thou not the chastening
of the almighty for he maketh sore and bindeth up he wounds
and his hands make whole. Maybe they had heard those words
and they understood that God had put them in that situation
They were blind by divine appointment so that God could be glorified
in their sickness, that God could be glorified in their healing. And so they come to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the one who is able to heal. Think of a surgeon. A surgeon, he wounds. But he
wounds so that he may heal. He wounds and then he sews up
again. just like God himself. It is God who is in control. We cannot have a low view of
God that is losing control when people are unwell, losing control
when there is disability, losing control, that he is in control
of all of these things. He has allowed these things to
take place in his life, in the lives of his people. He does
so for his own glory either by their godly disposition in their
sickness or that he would get glory in their healing and restoration
and just like these two blind men sitting at the wayside living
off the goodness the grace of other people hearing the Lord
Jesus Christ pass by crying out our son of David have mercy upon
us and so again we have the external evidence of the corruption of
the heart The external evidence of sin in the world is manifested
in sickness. That the human body is corrupted
liable to sickness and disease. If you've seen the news recently
you may have noticed that there was a big sinkhole that opened
up in Taiwan. all captured on video. The road
is there and suddenly it all collapses and the power lines
fall into this sinkhole some 50 meters deep. And the sinkhole is the evidence
of something going on underneath. People would have been driving
over that road Maybe for many hours unknown to them that underneath
is this great hole that is opening up. And then suddenly the top
caves in and everything falls in. The external evidence of
an internal subsidence. And so as we look at our bodies
We see that we have aches and pains. We see that we have sickness.
We see that there is death. It's the external evidence of
sin. The corrupt nature. The curse
upon the human race. And as Jesus passes by he sees
the evidence of sin upon his creation. The heart the Bible tells us
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Our hearts
are the part of us that are unseen and yet there is that evidence
in the way that we live or in the way that people live that
our hearts are deceitful. The fruit that is produced is
a bad fruit. The fruit that is produced is
a fruit of the kingdom of darkness rather than the kingdom of light. So these two men they are physically
blind yet they have eyes of faith to see the Lord Jesus Christ
for who he is and what he is able to do, the son of David,
the anointed one, the Messiah, who is able to heal them and
to provide them with mercy. But this physical blindness is also a picture of the spiritual
blindness that is also fallen upon mankind because of sin. Not only is the human body corrupted,
not only is the human body liable to sickness and death under the
curse of death, but also the spirit of a man is dead. Separated from his creator. And the Bible tells us that is also or could be termed as
blind unable to perceive spiritual truth just as these men physically
could not see So someone who is separated from God in the
kingdom of darkness, they are spiritually blind. They're unable
to perceive or see spiritual truth. They're unable to look
at creation and see the creator. They're unable to look at the
word of God and see that it is written, it is God's word. They're unable to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ and see that he is the son of God, the lamb
of God, the savior, because they are spiritually which is why
I read to you from 2nd Corinthians and chapter 4. From verse 3 it
says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is in the image of God, should shine unto them. They're unable
to comprehend, to perceive, to see spiritual truth. They are blinded in their minds. They are blinded by Satan. They
are blinded by lies. And they would rather receive
the lies of Satan than to receive the truth from God. Satan leads
them astray. in Revelation 12. In verse 9 it says, And the great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and
Satan, which deceives the whole world. He was cast out unto the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And so Satan is
a deceiver. who has blinded the minds of
those who are in his kingdom, that they will not perceive the
truth of the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so he is a counterfeit king. Within the gospel is real joy,
real truth. Yet Satan counterfeits joy and
pleasures. He provides a counterfeit love.
He provides a counterfeit happiness that is temporal and fragile. He provides a counterfeit satisfaction
and a counterfeit contentment. He provides a counterfeit religion. that holds people in darkness. He provides a count of it thoughts
that make them satisfied by their own works. He lies to them and
tells them rest in your own self. Continue on trusting in yourself
and with the thoughts that you are good and that God would accept
you as you are. and he leads them like an animal
being led to slaughter in blindness in darkness he leads
them on with lies saying everything's going to be okay don't worry
about it he's blinded their minds It's like that animal, it comes
from its nice barn and it is led into the cattle trailer,
taken off to the slaughterhouse, has no idea what is going to
happen to it. It trusts in the one that is
leading it and his journey will end in death. So those who have
had their minds blinded by Satan, they are walking to eternal destruction. being led by Satan himself who
will be cast into that destruction with him, with them. And so the scripture says that
they are spiritually blind, unable to comprehend the truth. Jesus says those that are blind,
he says, the blind leadeth the blind and they will both fall
into the deep. Satan is leading a multitude
of spiritually blind people into a ditch and it's an eternal ditch,
a ditch of eternal separation from God and he causes them to trust in
those things that they can see, in those things that they can
perceive The Bible tells us it is by faith
that we view God, that we view Christ and because those who
are devoid of faith because they are spiritually blind they have
to trust in their physical sight and so they rest in knowledge,
they rest in science They say that science is everything. Science disproves God. Yet science is of a great benefit
to the believer. But it has its flaws. It's unable
to comprehend spiritual truth. Science can only study what can
be observed or detected. It has no answer for life. Science cannot tell us how life
came out of dead hard things. Science cannot tell us how the
world was created. Science pulls a blank mind when
you say how can something come from nothing. Science is limited
to those things that have already been created that it can be tested
and touched tangible things but science has no faith But science helps the faith of
the faithful. Science can't trust in what it
cannot see. It can't examine God. Have you ever looked at those
science books and you've been able to look at the workings
of the human body? And you've been able to look
at the workings of the solar system. You've been able to look
at the insects and how complicated they are. They magnify to the
believer the greatness of God. The believer's faith is increased
when he views the experiments that are done in science. But science itself has no faith. must always have something to
test or to observe or to be detected. The Bible tells us now faith
is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things
not seen. Faith rests in the unseen. The scripture tells us here that
by faith we believe that the words were framed by the Word
of God. Science cannot look into that. It has no faith. Yet believers
are given faith to trust in the Word of God, that the Word of
God is powerful. that the word of God spoken was
able to bring this world into being in a moment not in millions
and millions of years but in days. Six days God created the
heavens of the earth and before the world there was God and the
wise has been God for he is the I am And so there are questions that
science can't answer. But faith rests in the revealed
word of God to give us the answers that science can't help us with.
Where did the world come from? It came from God. God spoke it
into being. Where did life come from and
where does life continue to come from? It comes from God. God breathed into Adam. God created everything and made
it alive. I was listening to someone the
other day and they said that because of the lack of rain that
there has been that the fruit trees have brought forth an abundance
of fruit because they've gone into drought mode to produce
more and more and more so that their seed may continue. How
does a tree do that? Because it's been created by
an all-knowing and all-powerful God who's given it the ability to
be able to however it does sense and do but it has no brain yet
it's alive it lives it breathes it reproduces yes it's a tree
and we cut it down and we burn it yet it is perfect because
God has created it for his honour and for his glory yet so blind
and darkened is the mind. Outside of Christ you cannot
see, they cannot see the beauty of God, the power of God in creation. And so they trust that science
knows best. There'll be millions of people
in hell who have trusted in science, knowledge. I said to my African
friends, I said, there'll be millions of you people who say,
I can't come to church because of my cows, because of my goats. And so they'll end up in hell
because of cows and because of goats. They have no faith, no fear of
God. Blind. Satan had darkened their
minds that they would not receive the light of the glorious gospel. And so these were blind men at
sea. Blind men at sea. They saw the son of David by
faith. And Jesus proves to them that
he is that son of David, that he is the anointed one, that
he is God in the flesh. And he says to them, believe
ye that I am able to do this. And they said unto him, yea Lord.
Then touched he their eyes saying, according to your faith be it
unto you. and their eyes were opened and
Jesus straightly charged them saying, see that no man know
it. According to your faith. Physically
blind yet spiritually able to see and to trust and to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and their eyes were opened. They
could now physically see and they could spiritually see. the one who had healed them. They were blind but they were persistent. Jesus
didn't deal with them straight away. He continued on his journey
and the Bible says that when he came to the house, you see
those who have a real need have persistence. They continued inquiring,
they continued crying unto the Lord Jesus, Thou son of David
have mercy on us. They realised that they didn't
deserve that healing, they realised they needed mercy, they needed
his grace. But as he continued on his journey
they didn't give up. They continued their praying we could say that he
would stop and have mercy upon them. Often it is isn't it with
our prayers that we give up. We may pray once or twice and
we get despondent, discouraged or maybe the Lord doesn't want
us to have that but it was a pressing need to them and they knew that
Christ was able to heal them. He had healed other people Maybe
you have that pressing need. You realize that you are spiritually
blind. You may not be physically blind,
but you are spiritually blind. You realize that you can't view
Christ as you would desire to view him. You realize that you need him
to stop and to take mercy, to show you mercy. It's like these
men, they continued on. until they were healed. May the
Lord grant you that persistence at the throne of grace, show
you your need that you will not let him rest until he has healed
you, granted you that grace. Blind people, they must live
in a world of darkness but as soon as they were healed. That darkness became light. That
life that they once were walking in completely changed. Everything that they had heard
about now they were able to see it. They had been healed and so it
is with true faith in that kingdom of darkness, spiritually blind,
spiritually separated from God. But when the Spirit of God opens
up our understanding, opens up our eyes, we begin to see clearly,
see by faith the Lord Jesus Christ and to follow him and to see
him by faith. We once heard about him but now
we see him clearly, we see him in the word. We're encouraged
by the word. and faith becomes sight. But
as Christians there are times when although we are spiritually
able to see there are times when we do experience times of darkness. Though we are spiritually alive
yet we pass through situations that cause us to walk in the
darkness. Like in Isaiah it says, Isaiah
50. Who among you that feareth the
Lord? To those that are in the light,
those who are trusting in God, that obey the voice of his servant. They're walking in obedience
but they walk in darkness. There's a shadow over their pathway,
shadow over their mind, over their spirit. They can't see
clearly where they are going. They have no light. Let him trust
in the name of the Lord and wait or stay upon his God. So he gives us the answer. If
you are spiritually awake, if you are spiritually able to see,
you fear the Lord, you're walking in obedience to him and you're
walking in the darkness, what are you to do? to trust in the
name of the Lord, to trust in who he is, his character, his
nature, as we saw with Tim Ramsbottom on Friday, the attributes of
God. The almighty God, long-suffering
God, patient God, all-knowing God, all-powerful God, ever-present
God. And so in our experiences as
believers, although we are in the dark regarding many, many
things, yet we can still rest upon that foundation that God
is unchangeable, that his nature and character, his perfections
never, ever, ever change. And just like these blind men,
they were physically in the darkness, yet they could see Jesus for
who he was. the son of David, the anointed
one, the Messiah, the one who is able to heal them. May the
Lord grant us that faith that in our dark times to rest on
the name of God, the unchangeable character of God and like these
two blind men look to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and rest
and trust in him. In Corinthians verse 18 it says,
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us far more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, while
we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And so as the scripture moves
us to look away from everything that is temporal and to view
by faith the invisible God and his perfect nature and then one
day, one day the Bible tells us we
would see him as he is will see him face to face although faith
views now the invisible God that one day that faith will be turned
to sight and just as these two blind men viewed Christ by faith
in the darkness yet then their eyes were opened one day you
and I our eyes of faith will be turned to eyes of sight and
we will see the one who has saved us we will see the one that has
led us and guided and directed us our good shepherd we will
see him face to face without a veil between the scripture
tells us we will have a body like unto his body without sin
There we will live forever with our Shepherd, with our Saviour. Believe ye that I am able to
do this. They said unto him, Yes, Lord. Amen. May the Lord help us as we close
this service by singing hymn number 16 from Gadsby's. The
Father is a holy God, his holy Son he gave, who freely shed
atoning blood, a guilty world to save. Hymn number 16 from
Gadsby's to the tune 171. This holy, godly game You freely
shed A thorn in my heart A guilty world And while by faith they sinned
in spade, their souls grew lowly to the ground. The saints did dine, while he
on earth they dwelled. By faith they wrestled day and
night, O heart, needless to fear. Leads them on, his sounding truth
to learn, In sconces, laws, and every sound. And once I've been the cleansing grace that fills
me. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you each now and for
evermore. Amen.