May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Word. Let us turn to the Gospel of
Luke chapter 18 and we'll read verses 38 and 39. The Gospel
of Luke chapter 18 and reading verses 38 and 39. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before
rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much
the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. I expect this is a fairly familiar
little account in actual fact it's recorded three times in
the Word of God with some variations in Matthew and also Mark as well
as Luke but it is significant to see that the Lord saw fit
to ordain that such words should be recorded for our benefit And
surely it is for our benefit because it describes here a blind
man who sat by the wayside begging. Clearly he was a poor man, otherwise
he wouldn't be begging. So he was a poor man and also
he was blind. And of course, there are many
people in a similar situation throughout the world. But here
we have an account of this certain man on this occasion. And the wonderful change which
occurred in his life we're told he heard, he obviously had hearing
he heard the multitude pass by and he asked what it meant what
it meant? what were all these people passing
by him? what did it mean? he wanted to
know and the people that passed by told him that Jesus of Nazareth
passeth by. Now it would seem from what we
read that obviously he had heard of Jesus of Nazareth and he had
heard that he had performed wonderful miracles. And the positive position
that we find this man in is that he's able to cry out again. It wasn't just a little whisper. And I always think it's encouraging.
And so many times in the Word of God, we hear about the cry. And a cry means that it's in
a loud voice. There's a need to be heard. And
this man wanted to be heard. He wanted Jesus to hear that
he was there. And that he wanted to hear from
Jesus. And he comes and he says, He
says that he cried saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on me. Now from the Old Testament, we
know that the Messiah was to come through the line of David. And therefore this man would
have been familiar, was familiar with the truth of God, And therefore,
we see that here he was given faith to believe. He hadn't seen this man. You
may have heard him speak, we don't know. You may have heard
him speak, but nonetheless, he comes in this way and he cries,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Well, as we read
a word like that, I wonder whether we have prayed, perhaps not in
precisely the same words. but whether we have prayed that
Jesus would have mercy on us. Now really, there were two aspects
for this man. Firstly, he was blind and he
needed his natural sight restored. And then secondly, he needed
to be blessed with spiritual sight. So we can understand perhaps,
here was a man with a great need. Jesus of Nazareth was passing
by, and therefore he didn't want to miss the opportunity of Jesus
speaking to him, of he coming to Jesus. That's what he wanted,
and therefore we read, he cried saying, Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. And then we carry on and we read
in the next verse, and they which went before rebuked him, that
he should hold his peace. Well, you may find that perhaps
people may discourage you in the things of God. may discourage
you from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, may discourage you from
crying out for the mercy of the Saviour towards you. And if that
is so, and clearly it was so on this occasion, and be sure
of this, the devil will do everything he can to discourage you from
pleading, for crying, for mercy. You may say, well, of course,
you're not worthy and the Lord will never listen to your prayers.
Well, just remember The devil always has been and always will
be a liar. So never believe what he says. Always believe the Word of God. Always be encouraged by the Word
of God. Always be encouraged by the many
examples of the mercy of God set forth. And even in this chapter
that we read together this evening, we have that wonderful account
of what is described as the Pharisee and the Publican. Two types of
people. One who came in the wrong way,
one who came in the right way. What a blessing if you and I
come in the right way. You see, the Pharisee came in
the wrong way. He was pleased. He was proud
of his life. Proud of all that he did. Proud
of his religion. Very different to the publican
who, of course, would have been a tax collector. Very different. because we're told the publican
standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes under
heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me
a sinner very similar words really to this blind man who cried out,
Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. What is very clear is
this. They both needed mercy. And all of us need mercy. Many people today
don't realise they need mercy. don't realise they must know
the mercy of God. Otherwise, like this Pharisee,
they will perish in their sins. What do we see? We see the glorious
work of God, touching hearts, bringing down proud man to that
place where they have a need. and that's a need of mercy and
what a blessing when the Lord indeed looks upon us as he looks
upon this blind man and as he spoke about the publican and
he speaks These words about a publican, I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Well, it's a great blessing when
God shows us what we are before a holy God. God looks at our
heart and when we understand that God looks at our heart we
won't think we're a great person we won't think we're a good person
we won't reel out the whole things that we think justify ourselves
we'll come very simply very simply crying for mercy crying for mercy
and it's a glorious day when the Lord shows us His mercy. The Lord showed mercy to this
blind man. He cried out. You see, the second
time, he cried so much the more. He wasn't going to be stopped.
So much the more. We don't know how many times
he cried out. There may have been many times. Surely the great
concern and great desire and the great proof here is that
we should never give up. We should continue crying for
mercy to our God, believing. that he does here, believing
that he will have mercy in his time and in his way. And when that comes, and when
we receive it, we will desire to truly praise and honor and
glorify our God. What a blessing that is. What
a mercy, isn't it? May God in his love The sinner
has recorded such an account as this to encourage us. So should people try and stop
you? Should people try and discourage
you? Should the devil try and stop you? Should the devil try
and discourage you? Don't listen. We're always safe when we quote
the word of God. Always rely upon the truth of
God. And you can come to God and you
can say, Lord, thou hast said. We can plead the promises of
God. We're told, he that cometh to
me shall in no wise be cast out. That's the glorious truth of
the gospel. And you can quote words like
that to the devil, and he'll slink away. He knows it's true. He hates the truth. But may you
and I love the truth. And so we see the result of this. This man, he cried out, so much
the more. It's a very urgent cry. And remember, thou son of David. Well, we know, of course, who
that was, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can come pleading with him
that he would indeed have mercy on us. And Jesus stood and commanded
him to be brought. The Lord knew where he was. The
Lord knew what he was doing. The Lord commanded that he should
be brought to him. He was a poor, blind man, brought
to him, brought to the Saviour. The Lord asked him, What wilt
thou that I shall do unto thee? and he said Lord that I may receive
my sight well as I've hinted there's the two sides the natural
blindness and the spiritual blindness and it's a great wonderful blessing
if the Lord comes to us and asks what we want we're able to come
and say Lord that I may receive my spiritual sight Maybe that
not here but some of those who need to receive their natural
sight. And what does the Lord say? Receive
thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. It means that we are to
come to the Saviour believing that he will hear our prayer. And He will hear our cry, but
He won't turn a deaf ear. He won't turn us away. And we
need to pray that we may possess this true faith, this God-given
faith to believe that we come to a God who does hear and a
God who does answer prayer. You only have to go through the
Word of God And there are so many, many occasions when God
heard the cries of His people and delivered them, and appeared
for them, and blessed them. And they had living faith to
believe that the great God they came to would hear and answer
their prayer. And the great encouragement for
us today is this. The Lord Jesus has not changed.
God has not changed. He is the same today, yesterday,
today and forever. And what we therefore know is
this. He is a prayer hearing and a
prayer answering God. And we might therefore come and
say, why therefore, why not for me? Why not for me? You see, it's a venture of faith. Why not for me? Lord, all these
cases, why not for me? May I know thy mercy. May I know thy favour. May I know thy blessing. And as we just go on, just to
realise here, in this account, and it's very important and very
relevant that sometimes we almost forget to recognise this, because
we're told this. Immediately, immediately, he received his sight and followed
him, glorifying God. Isn't that a wonderful truth? Isn't that a wonderful fact? And isn't that a wonderful example
for all of us? Again we have our adversary the
devil who will not want you to glorify God. That's the last
thing he wants. He wants your mouth to be shut. He wants you to say nothing.
My friend, sadly, that's occurred in many people's lives. They've
said nothing. And as they got older, they've
so regretted not saying anything. If the Lord God has heard your
cry, and have mercy upon you you have much reason to glorify
God because God could have passed you by you deserve to be passed
by and yet God in his love to your soul has stood still heard
your cry called you to his side, asked you the problem, and given
you the great and glorious answer. Well, we have a most gracious
God. And it's good to recognise it,
and it's good to appreciate it, and it's good to acknowledge
it. and so here we have this statement
then immediately well I guess you know what that means immediately
means straight away having received the blessing that was the response
immediately He received his sight and followed him, glorifying
God. And all the people, when they
saw it, gave praise unto God. You see, there was a wonderful
knock-on effect, wasn't there? Yes, it was wonderful, wasn't
it? You see, the people then recognized what had happened.
And that's true today. The Church of God recognized
what has happened and joined together in giving praise unto
God. Is God worthy of praise? Well,
I'm sure you know the answer to that. I'm sure I don't have
to spell it out. What a blessing it is when you
and I are graciously and gloriously convinced that because the Lord
has shown his mercy and shown his love toward us We are wonderfully
privileged to acknowledge his goodness and mercy and favour
toward us. Immediately he received his sign. Once I was blind, but now I see
the blessing of spiritual sight to realise what has occurred
because the Lord shows us Our need of a Saviour because of
our sin and then by His grace has directed us to Calvary. To Calvary. To see the suffering
Saviour. The suffering Saviour. Enduring
agony in order to redeem our soul. Oh, my friends, what a
savior. What a savior that should do
that. And when you realize it's God
himself, God himself, who's gloriously condescended to pay the price to take away our
sin. Well, surely he's worthy. of all adoration, is he not? Do you dare say, well, I don't
think so. Especially when you consider
that our eternal life depends upon the mercy of God, depends
upon the glorious work the Savior did at Calvary in accomplishing
all the demands of the law of God, in order that our sins should
be forever washed away, never to return. No, the Saviour says
so wonderfully that our sins are blotted out like a thick
cloud. Can't see them anymore. They're
gone. And the Saviour's done it. Well
then, can we understand something in this very beautiful account? and surely it is a beautiful
account and surely it suits every believer and surely every believer
can enter in to the truth of it and the relevance of it It's
not something which is irrelevant. It's very relevant to all of
us to come to this place. Remember, he was a poor, blind
man. It's good, isn't it, when you
and I think and realise we, by nature, are poor, blind creatures. And yet the Lord hears our cry
and has mercy upon us and comes and blesses us and comes and
visits our soul and comes and directs us to the Lord Jesus
you think of this wonderful occasion try and just imagine it with
this blind man he wasn't able to go there himself but the people
brought him they brought him held his hand, no doubt brought
him to the Saviour Couldn't see the Saviour, he was blind. But
he could hear. My friends, that's a wonderful
thing, isn't it? You and I can hear what the Saviour says, and
then when the Saviour grants us spiritual sight, then we see. What do we see? We see the glory
of the Gospel. We see the amazing truth of it. The wonder of it, and we see
the love of God displayed amazingly to such a sinner as
me. Don't forget, religion is personal. Don't forget it comes where you
and I are. It comes right into our hearts,
right into our soul. We have the evidence of it within
us. that God is dealing with our souls with love. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it wonderful
to think that sinners can say, and only
they, how precious is the Saviour. See, there would have been a
time when Jesus meant nothing to us. Nothing to us. Just a mere name. To many people, not even a name.
But my friends, what a mercy when the name of Jesus is like
this. How sweet The name of Jesus sounds in a
believer's ear. That's a test and that's the
evidence of the wonderful life of God in our souls. When the
blessed name of the Saviour is a sweet name that we love to
hear and we never get tired of it. It's music indeed to our ear. Well, I hope that we all come
to that wonderful position. That we do come and say yes to
my soul. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in my ear. Because the Lord has given me,
given me faith to believe in the glorious gospel, given faith
to believe this same Jesus that I read about was the one that
died upon Calvary's cross to redeem my soul. And I have a
good hope of eternal life because of what He has done, not what
you and I have done. But he's heard our cry. He's
heard our needy cry. He's heard, perhaps, our desperate
cry. Because it looks like it here,
doesn't it? It looks like the man was getting more and more
desperate. He didn't want to miss out. He
said, first of all, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon
me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold
his peace. But he cried so much the more. Thou son of David, have mercy
upon me. You see, his need was great.
And it's good when our need is great. It's not something irrelevant. It's something very relevant.
We must. Have the Saviour. We must know
that we are a true believer. We must know that we are blessed
with the great and glorious gift of eternal life. We must know
that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, died upon Calvary's
cross to redeem my soul. Oh friends, blessed be God. where there is an urgency produced
in your soul. And that's not of the flesh.
It's the blessed work of the Spirit of God. Well, there's
just a few comments. We have the Lord's Supper tonight,
so I won't go on. But just to read the verse again.
And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. And they which went before rebuked
him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much the
more, Thou son of David, have mercy upon me.