Matthew chapter 20. What will
ye that I shall do unto you? When people are sorely stressed in their
heart, they usually think of no one
else but themselves. At least that's my experience
with me. It's woe is me. That's usually our complaint.
But when our Lord drew near the cross, remember previously here
He said that I go up to Jerusalem, I'm going to suffer, die and
rise again the third day. He's about to go and be crucified. He's about to die. Now, when he was going up to Jerusalem
and the near he drew to his sufferings and death, he still, he still
thought more of others than he did himself. This is on His way to Jerusalem. This is on His way to suffer
the wrath of God, to die. And yet, He stops and He takes
care of a couple blind men. You remember when He was nailed
to the cross and He was in agony? such agony. You know what he
did? Turn over to John 19. In the midst of all this agony,
look what he does. In John 19, in verse 25, Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleophas
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he said unto
his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then said he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple
took her unto his own home. Right there in the midst of agony,
he's taking care of Mary and making sure that she's taken
care of. And the disciple whom he loved, we know to be, is John.
And he took her to his home and took care of her the rest of
her life. I would to God that I could catch
just a measure of that kind of compassion, that I could think
upon others more than I think of myself, even when I'm in trouble,
even when I'm in trouble. But this is our Lord. This is
him. Now, as they left Jericho, great multitudes followed him. Little did this great multitude
that followed him know that in just a little while, that same
multitude would reject him. That same multitude would cry,
crucify him, crucify him. How fickle, how fickle is man. One day we like somebody, And
a few days later, we think, I don't like him so much. That's how fickle we are. But our Lord was not like that. He was not like that. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes. He never changes. I thank God he never changes,
because you and I change like the weather. But he doesn't. And I thought this when I was
reading this, that how fickle is man and why would anyone seek
such honor from someone so fickle? Because tomorrow they may not
honor you. But here's the scene, verse 28
and 29. The Lord is going up to Jerusalem. And He's speaking to this great
multitude, and this multitude's following Him along the way. And as He's speaking to them
and going up to Jerusalem, there's two blind men. They hear of Him. It says in verse 30, when they
heard that Jesus passed by, they heard this commotion, And no
doubt they inquire as to what's going on, and someone says, Jesus
is passing by. And boy, as they light up, a ray of hope burst into their
soul. They heard of Him. They heard
of Him. They had never seen Him, but they heard of Him. The Scripture says in Romans
10, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. They heard of Him. Not accidentally
either. You never hear the Gospel accidentally. Anyone who hears the Gospel,
whether they hear it in power, or whether they just hear it
naturally, just hear me stand here and preach, That's not an
accident. That's of God. There's no accidental
preaching and there is no accidental hearing. They heard of him. And they believed in their heart.
They believed in their heart. This man can save us. This man can give
us our sight. They believed he could do it.
They believed he can do it. That's what it comes down to
when God saves a sinner, that sinner believes he can do it.
Lord, if you will, that leper said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. You can cleanse me of my leprosy. You can cleanse me of my sin. You can do that. Now, these men were sitting by
the wayside, sitting there in hope that something good may
come their way. And it did, in the form of the
Son of God. God is passing by. Think about
that. When the gospel is preached,
You're not just hearing good news, God is passing by in the
message, in the gospel. And when we come here to hear
the gospel, we should always have a hope of hearing from the
Lord, hearing from Him. Not just to come here because
it's Sunday, but to come here to be taught of God, to hear
from our Heavenly Father. And here's a serious note. I
want you to take note of this. Verse 30. And behold, two blind
men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed
by, cried out saying, have mercy on us, oh Lord, thou son of David. Let me tell you something here.
This is the last time he passed by that way. He never passed
by that way again. He passed by that way at that
time, going to Jerusalem, he went to the cross, he died, buried,
and rose again. But this was the last time he
passed by that way. The last time. We know not when
the time will come, when it will be the last time the Lord passes
by. We don't know. We should take
every opportunity to avail ourselves of hearing the gospel, of hearing
of the Lord Jesus Christ, because we know not when it will be the
last time. I tell you this, this time will
be the last time for someone. The gospel is being preached
all over this land right now, this morning. And I assure you,
it will be the last time for someone. this day. He passed by the last time. And
then as He passed by, listen, they called out to Him. They did not call out to the
apostles. Remember this morning, I'm of
Paul, I'm of Paulus, I'm of Cephas. They didn't call out to any of
them. They called out to Him. They didn't call out to the preacher.
They called out to Him. Notice this, they recognized
His royalty. You see, they didn't just hear
that a man named Jesus was passing by. When they heard that Jesus
was passing by, here's what they heard, Son of David is passing
by. This is the King. This is the
promised Messiah that was promised in the Scriptures. This is the
One. They believed that. They believed
that. They didn't just believe a man
that could perform miracles was passing by. This is the Messiah. This is royalty passing by. This
is the king. The king is passing by. The king
of glory is passing by. They recognize his lordship. I listened to a man preach here
a couple of weeks ago. And he was talking about accepting
Jesus as your personal Savior. And he was talking about this
one particular person that she had accepted Him as her personal
Savior. He knew she was saved because
she accepted Him as her personal Savior. These men didn't accept Him as
their personal Savior. They bowed to Him as Lord. Lord. Lord, you can save me if you
will. You can make me whole if you will. You can cleanse me
if you will. That's how sinners saved by grace
talk. If you will, you can make me
whole. They bowed to the Lordship of
Jesus Christ. They knew that He had the power
to give them sight. So, you know, that tells me what
they believed about Him. They believed He's more than
a man. A man can't give you your sight. A man cannot raise the
dead. God can. God can. They knew He could heal them
if He will. They knew that. They knew He
had the power and the authority to give them their sight. God said, the seeing eye and
the hearing ear is of Me. Everyone who truly believes will
call on Him. And they will call on Him and
ask for His mercy in what they need. They called on him out of need,
not out of curiosity. Not out of curiosity. They called
out of need. They were blind and they knew
it. The worst way to be is to be
blind and not know it. Christ said, seeing you see not,
hearing you hear not. The Pharisee said, we see. And
Christ said, no, you're blind. And these blind men said, we're
blind. And the Lord said, well, you're gonna see. You're gonna
see. They were blind and they knew
it and there was no question about it. They didn't need glasses. They did not need their sight
improved. They needed their sight. They were blind. And they said, Lord, be merciful.
Be merciful, like that publican who said, Lord, be merciful to
me, the sinner. What a powerful, powerful, powerful
work of God it takes to bring a person to the place to say,
Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. It takes the work of
God to bring a person to that place. No doubt about what I am and
who I am and what I need. There's no doubt. There's no
doubt to me. I have not a glimmer of doubt
of what I am and that I need Jesus Christ. I need His mercy. I need His forgiveness. I need
His power to put away my sins. And I need Him to open my eyes. Then I might see Him. I need
Him, listen, I need Him to give me an interest in Him. To have
a real interest in Jesus Christ. Here's something we have in these
two blind men. We have mercy sought. Have mercy on us. Have mercy
on us. Anyone, does anyone need mercy
this morning? I thought of that when I was
looking at you. Does anyone need mercy, forgiveness, cleansing? They didn't deserve what they
were asking for. And that's why they said, have mercy
on us. Because we don't deserve it.
You don't owe it to us. God doesn't owe salvation to
me. He can leave me alone. You know
that? God can leave me alone and be God and be a just God
in doing it. They knew that they had no real
claims on Him. They're just two blind men sitting
by the wayside, beggars. That's what they are, two beggars
sitting by the wayside. And they knew it would be an
act of mercy if he would hear their cry and heal them. But
they were determined, sink or swim, we're going to Him. Sink
or swim, we're going to go to Him. They are not asking, now
listen, they are not asking Him for a favor. They are asking
Him for mercy. Mercy. And as they cried out, their
faith brought persecution. The multitude, this same multitude
that would turn on them, the multitude, they rebuked them. They said, shut up. That's what
they said, these two men. These two men who needed their
sight. They sat there for years, blind
and begging. And the crowd rebuked them. They said, hold your peace. But I want you to see something
here. When true faith is revealed in Christ, the multitude will
rebuke you for it, first of all. They will rebuke you for it because
the multitude is against Christ. The minority is for Him. They're
always in the minority. But true faith, now listen, here's
what I want you to get. True faith will persevere until
it receives what it's crying for. Jacob said, I will not let
you go till you bless me. Remember when he wrestled with
that angel, which was the Lord? I will not let you go. You can't run a sinner off. You
can't do it. You can't do it. It's like that Syrophoenician
woman. She came to ask for mercy on
her daughter. He said, it's not right to give
the children's bread to the dogs. He never gave that woman one
ounce of hope. But she knew that he was the
only hope that she had. But he never gave her an ounce
of hope, but yet he's the one who kept her hoping. He's one
who kept, he was knocking her down, but at the same time holding
her up. You can't run a sinner off. I've
told this before, but when I was growing up, we had a collie.
Named Tuffy, it was his name. And he followed us around everywhere. I mean everywhere. And there
was times, because everywhere we went, we walked. We walked
everywhere. And we'd go to our friend's house,
which was about a mile from where we lived. And we didn't want
him to go, because cars were going up and down the road. So
we'd try to make him stay back. And he wouldn't do it. We'd throw
rocks at him. Not trying to hit him, but just
trying to get him to stay back. And he would go over this field,
there was a field to the right of the road, and he goes over
this field. He had to go up the field. It follows at a distance. You couldn't run him off. You
can't run a sinner off when God awakens that sinner and shows
that sinner his or her need of the Lord Jesus Christ. They can't
get enough of Christ. If a sinner ever gets a sight,
if God ever gives that sinner a sight of His great need of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not shut him or her up. It won't
happen. The multitude, the multitude,
all of them said, shut up! And they just cried louder. They
said, forget you, they cried louder. And look what happened. And Jesus stood still and called them. There's a whole multitude around
there. And he heard two men, two beggars,
two beggars that we wouldn't give two cents to stop and listen
to. He stopped and he called them. He called them. That which commands the attention
of the physician is the great need of his patients. That's
what gets the physician's attention. Remember that woman with the
issue of blood? She came behind in a crowd and
touched the hem of his garment, and she was made whole. And the
disciples, and he turned around and said, who touched me? And
the disciple said, Lord, there's a throng of people here touching
you. Everybody's reaching out and
touching him as he's going by. But there was one woman who really,
really touched him. She touched his heart. The rest
of them were just touching his body, his clothes, and just wanting
to touch him as he went by. Her need touched him. Her heart
touched his heart. His heart touched her heart first,
but then her heart touched his heart. And these two beggars, when they cried, they cried,
Son of David. That's faith. That's faith crying
out. That's what that is. That's faith. And he stood still. Almighty stood still. And he called them. What a profound event going on
here. That's why it says, behold, two
blind men. As he went to Jericho, as he
went from Jericho, going up to Jerusalem, behold, pay attention
to this. God is passing by. And here God
stands still and here God calls them. God calls them. What a profound event. The God
of heaven and earth standing still to listen to the prayers
of two blind beggars. God Almighty stands still. The
God of creation stands still. And He calls them. He called them effectually. He
called them powerfully. He called them from darkness
to His marvelous light. Here's the mystery of this. These two blind men saw more
than all the multitude who had eyes to see. They were all looking
at Him, but they couldn't see Him. And here's two blind men
who could see, this is the Messiah, this is the King. Salvation is
by revelation. It's God revealing Himself to
you in Christ. Those who call on the name of
the Lord are those who are called by the Lord. He purposely, our Lord purposely
went right by those two blind men. They didn't just happen
to be, they were sitting in the way. Well, we know that Jesus Christ,
the Scripture says, is the way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. They were in the way, all right. His way. His way. Their need and their cry arrested
His attention. You know, we know in the Scriptures
that He hears the cry of the needy. And here's the question of all
questions. What will ye that I should do
unto you? Powerful question. Powerful question when God Almighty
asks you this question. What will ye that I do unto you? What will you that the Lord do
for you this morning? Take this question here. What
will you that the Lord do for you this morning? It is a soul-searching
question. What will you that I do for you? A soul-searching
question. Not a flesh searching question. If this is of the flesh, I know
what we're going to do. I want a new house. I want a
new car. Let me see. Let me count the
ways. It's a soul searching question. Our greatest need this morning I've written down here, mercy,
but our greatest need is Jesus Christ. He is the greatest need. Look over in Luke chapter 10. In Luke chapter 10, let me find the verse. Let me go ahead back to verse
38. Let me read the narrative to you. Now it came to pass,
as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a
certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had
a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard
His word. But Martha was cumbered about
much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not
care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore
that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things, but one thing is needful, one thing is needful, and Mary
hath chosen that good part. What did Mary choose? to sit
at His feet and learn of Him, which shall not be taken away
from her." Our greatest need is the Lord
Jesus Christ, is to be able to see Him, it is to be able to
have spiritual sight given to us that we might see in Him all
that I need. The scripture says, in Him you
are complete. You are complete. In seeing Christ, we see our
real needs. We see them. What will you that I do for you
this morning? Well, I can answer this question. Lord, forgive me. pardon me,
cleanse me, receive me, teach me, justify me. I have come to
realize that if the Lord heals me spiritually, gives me what
I need spiritually, everything else falls in place, everything
else. When I really am able to focus
on my real need, and that's all that I have in Him, all the blessings,
all the spiritual blessings that I have in Christ, that He will
enable me to look to Him, that I find in Him forgiveness and
pardon and justification and righteousness, when I find that,
everything else falls in place. It just falls in place. My attitude
falls in place when I find in Him all I need. And when He said to them, what
will you that I do for you? They confessed their need, sight. Their physical sight represents
our spiritual sight. The Lord did not come into this
world to prove that He can give us physical healing, that He
can give us sight and hearing and raise us from the dead. All
these represent spiritual things. What is it you need? Lord, let
me see you this morning. One more time. One more time,
let me see you. They never lost sight of their
need of sight. They never lost sight of that. Oh, what a question, what a question. What will you that the Lord do
for you this morning? And here's the result. It says,
Jesus had compassion on them. He delights to show mercy. He
delights to show mercy. He never turns away a needy sinner. You will not read anywhere in
the Word of God where he turned away a needy sinner. He never turned away anyone who
cried out for mercy. Never. Never. You know, most people have lost... I'm talking about lost people.
They have this idea of election, Let's say two people are crying
for mercy, and God says, well, I'll save this one and this one.
I'm going to leave it alone. No. If anyone's crying for mercy,
God has moved them to cry for mercy. God has moved them to cry for
mercy. Apart from that, no person ever cries for God's mercy. They
don't do it. And he touched their eyes. He touched them where their problem
was, their eyes. They couldn't see. There is no
problem that our Lord cannot heal us of, whether it be spiritual
or physical. There's no problem. And immediately it says their
eyes receive sight. You know, forgiveness is immediate. Pardon is immediate. His power to save is immediate. It's real. It's very real. They
could see. They had, listen, when He gave
them their sight, they had 20-20 vision. I assure you they had
20-20 vision. And notice what happened when
He gave them their sight. They followed Him. If you really, really need your
sight, Lord, let me see you. I promise you, you will see him
in his glory. Not like you're going to see
him when life is over, but you'll see something of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. And you will, you will follow
him and you'll follow him till the day you leave this earth. They followed him. The evidence
of true faith, they followed Him. And this is the result of
salvation. They saw Him and they followed
Him. What will you? This is a powerful
question now. God Almighty asked this question. What will you that I do for you? this morning.