May the Lord be with us as we
turn to his word for a short while this evening. And we'll
turn to the chapter we read, Luke's Gospel and chapter 18. And I want to think about the
words, the question and the answer in verse 41. So Luke 18 and verse
41. Here we have the Lord Jesus speaking
first, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And
he, that is the blind man, said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. I wonder how we would answer
if God asked us this same question this evening. What wilt thou
that I shall do unto thee? And many people may have many
different answers to such a question. Some may want great wealth, Some
may request many possessions, some may want a problem solved,
a particular issue sorted out, some may want peace or success,
something in their life, a great need perhaps, something that
they need to be dealt with. And we may all have all our own
different things which we may, as it were, bring to God in answer
to this question. He said, what wilt thou that
I should do? And as individuals, we may all have all sorts of
different things in our minds and in our lives that we would
take to God in answer to such a question. Well, the blind man
here, who is clearly Bartimaeus, as we read of in the other Gospels,
he had a need. He had a particular problem that
he desired that Jesus would help him with and of course that is
that he couldn't see. He was resorting to begging and
he had probably done that for many years because of his blindness. No one supported him, no one
helped him, he was left on the roadside begging because he could
not see. He could not participate in the
society around him. He couldn't work. He couldn't
fend for himself. He had a great need. He was blind. So this was his answer in that
great need to Jesus. Lord, that I may receive my sight. And I wonder if that's our prayer
this evening. If that's how we would respond,
if asked this question, what wilt thou that I shall do unto
thee? Do we respond like this, Lord, that I may receive my sight,
that I may be able to see? Clearly, obviously, we can all
see naturally here. We all have had sight. What we hear I'm speaking of
is spiritual sight. The desire to see by faith, things
perhaps we have never seen before. Do we recognize that our greatest
need is to have our eyes spiritually opened to see the things of Christ,
the things of God for our souls? Is this our response to this
question, Lord that I may receive my sight? Firstly, we respond
like this, that I may receive my sight, that I may see Jesus. Lord, open my eyes to see Jesus. Would that be our answer? Bartimaeus
had his eyes opened for the first time he saw Jesus. Literally, he saw him with his
eyes. He had an understanding before
he had his eyes opened. He had an understanding of who
Jesus was. He refers to him as the son of
David, the Messiah, the Christ. He understands who he is, even
in his blindness in this sense. But as his eyes are opened, he
sees Jesus. He sees his face. And now he
sees him as his healer, as his friend, as his God, as his saviour. He now sees him as the Christ
who has compassion on blind Bartimaeus. Now he sees him as one who has
a personal interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. And is that our
desire tonight, if we are asked this question, what wilt thou
that I shall do unto thee? You say, Lord, open my eyes,
I may receive my sight to see Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Open my eyes that I may see Him
as my healer, as my God, as my substitute on that cross at Calvary. Oh Lord, give me faith, give
me faith that I may see Him, that I may appreciate what He
has done that I may appreciate and understand and believe that
what he did, he did for me, that I may see Jesus Christ as my
healer, as my saviour. Open my eyes, Lord, that I may
not just see him as a historical figure, as a man who walked through
Jericho, as a man who healed the blind, but I may see Him
now as light, as life, as my Saviour." Is that our prayer?
Is that our desire? Perhaps we have never really
seen Him before. We've never really understood
what these things meant that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. We've never been able to claim
Him and His work for ourselves. We've never been able to say
that we are fully trusting in Him. We've never been able to
say that we know Him. Oh, may we all pray if we're
in that position tonight, Lord, open my eyes. I may receive my
sight to see Jesus Christ with the desire of the Apostle that
I may know Him. and the power of his resurrection,
that we might know him for ourselves and see Jesus Christ. But perhaps we also could pray
it like this, Lord, that I may see my sight, receive my sight,
that I may see around me. We pray like that tonight. Lord,
that I might see the people around me, When Bartimaeus had his eyes
opened, for the first time he saw everyone else. He saw all
the people who had seen him day in, day out, and yet he had never
seen before. He saw all the people around,
the crowds, the throng around the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly,
as he went on in following the Lord, he would have seen those
who didn't believe in Jesus Christ. He would have seen those who
scorned him. He would have seen those who
derided him. Surely he must have, as he looked
around, had a desire that all those around would also come
to see the Lord Jesus Christ as he had. Come to know him as
the loving saviour and healer as he had. He saw the people
for the first time. May we as well daily pray this
prayer, Lord, may I receive my sight to see the others around
me, that I may have some appreciation and some understanding for their
need. Lord, give me a concern for the
lost, for the rebellious, for the ungodly, give me a love and
a concern for those who as yet are heading the road to hell. Lord, open my eyes, that I may
not harden my heart and turn away from the desperate need
of those around us. May we be given compassion, may
we be given a spirit of prayer, of concern and a spirit of zeal. as we go on as the witnesses
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, open my eyes. How often
do we not really think about the destiny of the lost soul?
How often we do not really think the people around us who have
no concern for the Lord. Oh, and we certainly, I feel
terrible about that at times. Where is our concern? Where is
our desire? Well, here is a prayer. Lord,
open my eyes that I may receive my sight. Lord, give me a concern. But we could also pray it like
this. Lord, that I may receive my sight to see the way, to see
the path. Bartimaeus, again, as he had
his eyes open for the first time, now he could literally see where
he was going. He could see the road that he
was walking down. He could see the way ahead. He
could see the Lord Jesus Christ walking ahead of him. He could
see where to go down the path. Here's our prayer. Maybe it's
all prayer tonight. Lord, open my eyes that I may
receive my sight to see the way ahead. To see the path that I
should walk. Lord, that I might go the way
that thou hast ordained for me? Is that our desire? Do we desire
to do the will of God? Do we desire to walk the way
that He has commanded, the way that He has planned for us? Is that our desire? And yet we
may sometimes wonder, which way should we go? What decision should
we make? What path should we take? We
want to do the Lord's will, but what is the Lord's will? How
are we to know what to do? We fear going the wrong way.
We fear going outside the will of God. Here's the prayer that
we can take up. What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? Lord, open my eyes. Lord, that I may receive my sight
to see the way ahead. That I may be given sight to
see the principles for guidance in God's word. that I may be
given sight to recognize God's working in Providence and His
leading in my life. Open my eyes that I may be able
to trust that the Lord is in control, that the Lord knows
my future, that the Lord knows what is best, that the Lord will
show me in due time in His way, the way for me to go. This is
a wonderful prayer when we are in darkness. We're in difficulty. Lord, that I may receive my sight. Show me thy will. Show me thy
way. We can take up the prayer in
that sense as well. Lastly, we could take it this
way. Lord, that I may receive my sight to see the destination. To see the end. How often we
need the Lord to open our eyes to have some appreciation again
of what is before his people. How often we become, as it were,
earthbound, we become tied to this world and all the things
in it, and all the things we have to do quite rightly, and
even the service of the Lord which we delight to be involved
in and which he's called us to. May we from time to time know
the Lord opening our eyes to see what is beyond, what is prepared
for the Lord's people, to see the destination that as we walk
through this life, we might be encouraged and we might also
be led to worship the Lord as we know what he has prepared
for us. Lord, that I might receive my
sight by faith to see glory. to see the Lord there, where
we shall see Him, face to face. Lord, open my eye of faith, that
though I walk by faith and see through a dark glassy here, that
one day I shall see face to face, that one day I shall see by sight
and no longer by faith. that one day I will be in a place
of no sin, no sadness and no temptation. May we all be like
Abraham who walked through the wilderness and yet he looked
for a city whose builder and maker was God. Lord, that I may
receive my sight to see beyond the earth which drags me down
the difficulties I'm walking through. Well, we can take this
prayer in a number of ways then. Lord, show me thyself. Lord, give me a concern for those
around me. Lord, show me the way that I
should go. Lord, show me the end for which is prepared for
thy people. Lord, that I may receive my sight. That was his prayer. And this
is the encouragement here. Because what did the Lord Jesus
do? He said unto him, Receive thy
sight. Thy faith hath saved thee. And
immediately he received his sight and followed him. His prayer
was answered. Immediately he was healed. Immediately
the Lord came and helped him. He had been waiting a long time
for the Lord to come and now he heard his prayer. Now he healed him. And today
he hears that prayer. He blesses. Today He opens us
our understanding. Today He blesses us with faith.
Today He reveals Himself. Today He shows us His will. Today
He still moves to reveal the path for us to walk. Today He
is still in control. Bartimaeus rose up and followed
Him. Now his eyes were fixed on His Lord. his saviour, his
healer, his eyes looked on him and he followed him. May we know
the answer to this prayer and as a result have our eyes all
the more fixed on him, to follow him, to follow in his footsteps,
following him and glorifying God. Surely as Bartimaeus glorified
God, it was his desire And it came to pass that all the people,
when they saw, also gave praise unto God. Or may we know the
blessing of our eyes opened, of glorifying the Lord, and then,
as our testimony shows forth God's power and grace in our
life, others also praising God for what He has done. Well, may
He add His blessing tonight. Amen.