This morning, Kevin, please come. God bless you as you stand before
his people. The honor is mine. It's a great privilege to be
here. I'm thankful to meet the Lord's
saints here. I'm always, always happy to meet my my brothers
and my sisters. John said it's a family reunion
and we're here for a purpose, aren't we? And I'm nervous preaching
to the people that taught me the gospel. Those things do weigh
on me. This flesh, it hurts me. It confuses
me sometimes, makes me sweat, makes me drink a little too much
water. And I hope to please you. I hope to please the men that's
trained me, the Lord's used faithfully to teach me things. But I want
to please my Lord. That's who I want to... I hope I have a message that
glorifies Him and promotes Christ. Today, I want to ask you a question.
If you had a friend or a loved one that wrote a story about
you wrote a book with you in it. You'd probably want to read
that, wouldn't you? I had that happen to me. A friend of mine
wrote a book, and it was pretty well received. And a mutual friend
called me and said, oh, did you read his book? And I said, oh,
I mean to. And I wanted to. I had a desire
to. But I never got to it. And he said, you know, there's
a chapter in there, and you're in it. It was about me. And real
quick, I went and bought that book and I read it. I wanted
to see what he said. There were a lot of bad things
he could have said. You know, he knew me. But I wanted
to see how that applied to me. And I wanted to see what he said
about me. And I read it and it gave me some comfort. He was
kind to me. He didn't tell bad things that
he could have told. But I was reading last week out of Luke
18, if you'll turn there with me. Luke chapter 18. And I thought
our Lord uses these scriptures to tell us of Christ, but He
comforts us with them. He lets us see ourselves in it
and gives us reassurance and comfort. Luke 18 verse 35, And it came
to pass And as he was come nigh unto
Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging. And
hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they
told him, comma, they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth
by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked
him that he should hold his peace. I pray the Lord never allows
me to tell someone to hold their peace when they rejoice in what
Christ has done for them. I don't want to bring reproach
on this gospel and I certainly don't want to be a stumbling
stone to someone. I know it will be and I know I have. But all
that's painful. But he cried so much the more,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood and commanded
him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he
asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, Receive thy sight. Thy faith hath saved thee. Hath
saved thee. And immediately, He received
His sight and followed Him, glorifying God, and all the people, when
they saw it, gave praise unto God." It's easy to read that
and say, well, a blind man, a miracle was performed, he could see,
everybody's happy. There's some points in there
I saw that I've experienced. There's some points in there
every child of God have experienced. That's how the Lord works to
save men and women. He meets us where we are. And
He shows us what we are and shows us who Christ is. But firstly,
I want us to see that there was a need. This was a certain blind
man. I always get tickled when I see
that in the scripture. A certain man. A certain blind
man. He was sitting on the roadside
begging. He was in need. No one had to tell that man that
he was physically blind. He knew it, didn't he? He knew it. His life was so altered
because of that disability, he wasn't able to provide for himself.
So he had to beg. And he was unable to provide.
And he relied on someone else, on other people, for them. That's a good place to be. Helpless. I hope the Lord makes me helpless.
I hope He makes me beg. There in Luke 18.35, it says,
It came to pass that when He was come nigh unto Jericho, a
certain blind man sat on the wayside begging. This man was
blind physically, but he was spiritually blind. He was spiritually
blind. Just like me. Turn over to 2
Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3 says, But
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom
the God of this world, Satan, hath blinded. the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. And because
of that, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. Because of those things, because
we're blind, we've heard the expression of the blind leading
the blind. Don't follow me if I'm not following Christ. Don't
follow a man. That's why I don't preach me, I don't preach you.
We preach not ourselves, but we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. But blinded the minds. The mind
in the New Testament means the whole of me. By nature, we are
blind to see ourselves as we truly are. We're blind to see
Christ and His glory. But through Him giving us sight,
giving us spiritual eyes, those eyes of the heart and those ears
of the heart, we see who He is. And we're drawn by the faith
that He gives us to see Him as He is. We're made to see the
things which are not seen. Those eternal things. Eternal
God and His eternal work. Not just the physical blindness.
that we have the spiritual blindness we have. We're able to see those
Esau's that's been used. That scaffolding that the Lord
uses to build His church. Look down at verse 18, 2 Corinthians
4, 18. 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. The things which are not seen
are eternal. That's what I want to see. I
couldn't imagine my life if I didn't have my sight. I had eye surgery
about 12 years ago. And I was telling David this
yesterday, I had to wear sunglasses for six months, indoors or outdoors.
And I got used to that. And I wore sunglasses here today. If I was going to drive, I had
to. And I forget sometimes to leave them on top of my head.
But there was a time for a few days there I couldn't see. I
had real trouble seeing. And I wanted my sight back. I
needed that sight back to be able to function. How much more
so do I need spiritual eyes? I'm interested in those things.
Are you? This blind beggar was interested. Luke 18.36 it says, and hearing
the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. There was a need
in that center and there was an interest. Turn over to Acts
chapter 8. Acts chapter 8 verse 27. Peter was told to go to the desert.
An angel came to him and said, you need to go to the desert
between Jerusalem and Gaza, right? On that road. Acts 8 verse 27. It says, and he arose and went.
He obeyed. Behold, a man of Ethiopia and
eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem
for to worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot, he
was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near, and join thyself to this chariot." And Philip ran. We saw that last night, didn't
we? Paul was ready. Philip was ready. He ran. I hope
I can run. And Philip ran thither to him
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest? And that eunuch said, How can
I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip, that
he would come up and sit with him. Philip got up and he said,
move over buddy, I'll tell you what that means. He didn't tell
him what those scriptures were about. Philip got up there and
told him who those scriptures were about. That Jesus. That's what those people told
that blind man. That Jesus. That's what he told him. And
there in verse 35, Acts 8, 35. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. That's what He told me. Once
we are born again, we're given life, and the Lord gives us discernment. He grows us in grace, and He
gives us the discernment to distinguish these things. To hear a lie on
our Lord, doesn't He? But once we have that, and we
know a little bit, do we stop seeking to learn of Christ? Does
that interest go away? Do we get to a level that we
just can't grow anymore? Do God's elect still desire to
know more of this old story? This salvation of Christ? If
the apostles were here today, I would ask them some questions
and then I would listen. Wouldn't you? If we had an apostle
standing there, one, he wouldn't look like what we think he looks
like. He'd be a little bit rougher than me. He'd have some calluses
and scars. But I would be interested to
know what they know. I've looked at what these great
men used of God had to say. But you know, after Christ gave
a lot of these parables, He would say, those that have ears, let
them hear. And I'd read that and I'd say, well, I hope I can
hear that. You know, a couple of times those disciples, those
apostles, they went to the Lord and said, once everybody left,
they said, what's that mean? That's me. I believe that, but what's
that mean? Matthew 13, 36, Christ gave the
parable of the wheat and the tares. And He sent the multitude
away and went into the house. And His disciples came unto Him
saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. They
came wanting to know, didn't they? They had an interest. Those
great men had an interest. And you know what happened? Verse
37 says, He answered them. He sat down and taught of God.
That was their pastor. God in human flesh preached to
mere men. That is powerful. The poor and
needy was preached to. That's my third point. That person
that has a need, the Lord gives them an interest. You know what
happens? The Lord sends a preacher. For
those disciples, He preached to them. In the old days, He
said to prophets, And now, like Clay said the other night, he
sends preachers. Mere men to tell. And like Paul
said, we don't preach ourselves, preach him. This blind man heard
that commotion and he wanted to know what was going on. Something
out of the ordinary was happening. He couldn't see, he could hear.
A lot of people coming with him. And he asked those folks, what
does this mean? What was going on? Men the Lord had made faithful
preached to him. They told him what this event
was. Look back there in our text in
Luke 18, verse 37. The man asked what it meant,
Luke 18, verse 37, and they told him. And here's what they told
him. That Jesus of Nazareth passes by. Not a false one. that one
prophesied, that Jesus, the one told of in the Old Testament,
in every type, in every picture, according to the Scriptures,
that Jesus, that Savior. That's a miracle. What's happening
here this weekend, if the Lord enables me to tell the truth
of Christ, tell the truth about God, and the Spirit uses that,
makes it effectual in your heart and you rejoice in it, or you
come to the knowledge of the Lord, or you're growing in grace
through it. That's a miracle. According to
some religions, you have to perform two miracles to be a saint. I've
stood up here, this is the second time I'm preaching here, and
I guess to them I'm qualified to be a saint if they see that
as a miracle, but they won't, will they? Clay was right last
night. Is God Almighty on His throne
speaking to poor, needy men and women? Is that miracle being
performed? Do we treat it like that? Is
this where a miracle happens every midweek service and every
Sunday? Our Savior said it did. Let's turn to Matthew chapter
11 and we'll stay there. I may quote some more Scripture
to you, but we'll stay there in Matthew. Matthew chapter 11.
In verse 1, it says, And it came
to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve
disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in their
cities. Now when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and
said unto him, Art thou he that should come? Or do we look for
another? So those disciples showed up
and they asked the Lord, Are you who we're looking for? And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again
those things which ye do hear and see. He's telling them to
go witness. A lot of people talk about witnessing. You know, in a court of law,
if you're a witness, you just tell the truth. You only tell
what you saw, what you heard, what you know. He tells them to go tell John what
you do here and see. And here's what he tells them
to tell him. The blind receive their sight. That physical blindness,
the Lord had miracles where He gave them sight, but spiritually
they're given sight. The lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. Those are all miracles, aren't
they? And the poor have the gospel preached to them. Our Savior
listed that with one of those miracles. Physically and spiritually. It's a miracle that the poor
are preached to them. So in this blind beggar, he had a need,
there was an interest, there was preaching of that Jesus to
him, the true Jesus. And what happens after a sinner
has this good news preached to him? They cry for mercy, don't
they? It's either a Matthew, but in
our text it said, "...and he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son
of David, have mercy on me." He declared that Son of David.
In that time, that's saying, as the Scriptures declared, you're
Him. He said, have mercy on me. Did this man approach God in
a way to receive mercy? I looked at this a few weeks
ago. They're in Matthew chapter 15. We'll turn over there. You
all remember that Canaanite woman. Matthew 15 and verse 21. It says,
Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and
cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. That sounds about the same, doesn't
it? That sounds like what I'm saying. That sounds like what
He's saying, doesn't it? But look, my daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil, and He answered her not a word. She
came with the right words, but she had a reason. There was a
reason He needed to help her, wasn't there? He was to be debted
to her. She was important. And it says,
but He answered her not a word, and His disciples came and saw
Him saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered
and said, and he's speaking to the disciples, I am not sent
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said, that
woman's not lost. Is that me? Then she came and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered, it is not meat
to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. Well, if
I said, Lord, help me, that would sound pretty good. She wanted
help. She didn't want to be saved. She was doing okay. She just
needed a little help. She needed a co-pilot. And the Lord said,
it's not fit to give the children meat to dogs. Oh, how crushing. And she said, truth Lord, yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
She said, you're the master and I'm not coming here with a reason
you need to help me. I don't need just help. I'm a
dog. What did He say unto her? Oh
woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee, even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. We call on the One that has the
authority and the power to grant mercy. And He shows us that need
that we have. And we know we're just dogs.
I'm just blind. Like David's saying yesterday,
And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth
his hand and touched him. He said, if you will. And he
didn't even say nothing to him. He just reached over and touched
him. That hem of his garment. And he said, I will be thou clean. And immediately, right then,
that leprosy was gone. Immediately he was clean. Alright,
let's look back at our text here in Luke 18. Verse 40 says, And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought
to him. And when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What
wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that
I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight. Thy faith hath saved thee. And
immediately he received his sight. Mercy was provided. This man
physically needed to have sight and he was given that immediately.
Physically. Spiritually he was given that
sight through the preaching of the gospel and through the Lord
touching him. When sinners are called they are given sight immediately.
Christ redeemed us. Because of that, the Father justified
us. And because of that, the Holy
Spirit notifies us. I stole that from Gabe Stoniker.
I don't know who he stole it from, but that was good. That's
the truth, isn't it? And that Spirit notifies us.
When the Holy Spirit, that Comforter comes, pierces your heart, quickens
you, gives you life, gives you spiritual eyes, gives you those
ears to hear. It happens immediately. Now we
may not understand what we see, but we know we see it. We may
not know what we hear, but I know that I'm hearing. We saw last
night about those apostles being called. Straightway they left
their nets. Straightway they left the boat. And just like this one, immediately
they had sight. And what did those apostles do? They followed
Him. Straightway they left the boat
and they followed Him. So what do we do next? If the Lord gives
us these things, immediately gives us sight, that mercy is
received. He's given mercy. We follow Him, don't we? Luke
18, verse 43, immediately He received his sight and followed
Him. Just like Philip going to that
road between Jerusalem and Gaza, he went. He didn't know why,
but he rose and he went. Why'd he do that? He believed
God. This blind man was in need, he
heard of Christ, he begged for mercy, he experienced and he
received grace and he believed Christ. I pray, that's something
I struggled with for a long time. I was born and raised under faithful
men that preached this gospel. And I grew up wondering, do I
just know this in my head or do I know this in my heart? Do
I believe? I believed and never had a problem
believing there was a God. I never had a problem believing
that man fell in the garden. But did I believe God? Did I
believe I fell in the garden? I pray I can believe Him. But I hear His voice. He's given
me those ears. He said those sheep that's given
me, they hear my voice and they follow me, don't they? I want
to hear Christ's voice. I want to follow Him. I want
to hear Him and follow Him. I told Clay's illustration a
long time ago. I was in another country in the
Middle East on your all's generous taxpayer dime. And I was up in
a real high tower and I had to watch a road for a couple weeks. And every day there's these little
boys. They weren't 10 years old, 12 years old. And one would come
from this way and one would come from this way down the roads.
meeting in the middle. And they had about 50 to 80,
100 sheep with each of them. And them sheep would just walk
all around them. And them little boys would come down that road
and they would meet right in the middle. And they'd stand
there and talk about 10 minutes every morning. They was taking
those sheep to the fields to feed, to eat, you know. And the
first time I saw that, I said, oh, them little boys are going
to get whooped. They had all their dad's sheep
with them, and they stand there talking, them sheep just intermingled.
It was all over, just all around them. And I said, what's going
to happen? I hope they're brothers. I hope that's the same flock,
you know. And they talked a little while,
and then they left. And so that one coming from the right kept
going that way to the left. This one coming this way kept
going that way. And they got out a little ways and they whistled
and clicked and threw a little rock and tapped that staff. And
those sheep just come apart out of that big ole group. And that
one went that way the way it was going. And that one went
that way the way it was going. How'd that happen? I got to see that.
I heard it and I saw it. And I thought, look at that.
They heard the voice of that little shepherd, didn't they?
And they followed him. A dumb old sheep, a stinky, smelly
sheep, was able to follow that little boy. I pray I'm the Lord's
sheep and I can follow Him. But what do sinners do after
they hear that Master's voice and follow Him? They glorify
God, don't they? It wouldn't be me. That sheep
wasn't just so smart, it knew it was trained that way. It wouldn't
have made it that way. Luke 18.43 says, "...and immediately he
received his sight, and he followed Him, glorifying God." That's
how we follow the Lord. I want to serve Jesus. Have you served Jesus? Have you
followed Christ? A lot of people ask me all kinds
of questions, especially last year. Well, I don't know. Do I glorify Him? It says he
followed Him glorifying God, didn't he? Psalm 23 says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness. Why would He do all that? It
says, for His namesake. 1 Samuel 12.22 says, For the Lord
will not forsake His people for His great namesake. God says,
please the Lord to make you His people. It's not of me. It's not of my making myself
see. The Lord did all that and gave
me that righteousness, gave me that holiness for His namesake. If there's a reason in me, I
have reason to be concerned. His reason is His namesake. And
I always thought that was precious, but my grandfather, he was William
Bailey Thacker, and I'm Kevin Bailey Thacker. And my whole
life, he said, that's my namesake. And oh, I didn't like it. I was
a little guy. He was really old. I didn't like being called His
namesake. Who's there? Because in Psalm 23 and 1 Samuel,
it's L-O-R-D, all capital letters. God the Father. Who's His namesake?
Who's named after Him? Made just as He is. Same blood. Christ is it. For Christ is why
I'm preserved. He does these things. Gives me
righteousness for Christ. And for that cause, how can I
glory myself? We glorify Him knowing. Now is
He the only one that does it? This poor blind beggar. Somebody
preached to me this gospel. I didn't lock myself in a basement
somewhere and sit down and study and just because of my big intellect
I come up with these and had discernment and then somebody
worked with me. Someone preached to me. They
told me that. But did I hear that and then I'm the only one
that had that experience? How do other people that already
knew these things Those that preached the gospel to me. Those
that told this blind beggar of that Jesus. What did they do? It says there in Luke 18.43,
And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying
God. And all the people, when they
saw it, gave praise unto God. They didn't praise Him, did they? No, just that blind guy get up
and walk over there. No. The Lord commanded him to
come. Isaiah 25.8 says, He will swallow
up death and victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from off all faces. And rebuke of His people shall
He take away from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken
it. And it shall be said, In that
day, lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He
will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited
for Him, and we will be glad and rejoice. in His salvation. Every time the Lord saves somebody,
we rejoice, don't we? Our Savior said in Luke 15, I
say unto you that likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth, more than over naughty and non-just persons
which need no repentance. Heavens rejoice. The angels rejoice,
don't they? Likewise, I say unto you, there
is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner that repented. I can promise you, if the Lord
has shown you your needs, gives you an interest to hear
these things, sends a man to preach to you, tell you the truth,
has you beg for mercy, He'll give it. And after that, you'll
follow Him, you'll glorify Him, and every one of your brethren
with the same heart, they'll glorify with you to Him, won't
they? I hope here this weekend we can
glorify together to Him, for His name's sake. I hope that's
a blessing to you.