Two Blind Men

Matthew 20, 29. And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And the multitude rebuked him because they should hold their peace. But they cried the more, saying, have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.

Jesus stood still and called them and said, what will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him.

Let's pray. Father, meet with us tonight, Lord, as we look into this passage of your word. Pray your presence, Lord, in the spirit of light and life to show us the things of yourself and what you've done for us. Teach us how you save sinners tonight. Show us to be the sinners that we are, and cause us to cry for your mercy. In Christ's name we ask these things, amen.

So, as we've mentioned before, sort of in review, during this very chapter, and the previous chapter I believe also, or not long before that, The Lord repeated how that he must go to Jerusalem to be betrayed into the hands of men and suffer and die and rise again the third day.

He said that to them over and over throughout their walk together. And as we've seen all through the book of Matthew and in all of scripture, really, all of the miracles, all the parables, all of the stories, all of the the illustrations that our Lord used all his way to Jerusalem. We talked about how he was going to Jerusalem from the very beginning. It was a journey of his whole life to go to Jerusalem. But all of these miracles along the way illustrate and were done entirely for the purpose of revealing what our Lord would accomplish in Jerusalem at Calvary.

And here we have this event in our text. As he approaches the end of his lifelong journey, he had just told them, most recently, we're going to Jerusalem. He kept saying, I must go to Jerusalem. And now he's told them we're going. We're heading there right now. We're going straight there.

And on his way, he encounters these two blind men. It just happened to be in His path. The Lord arranged all this, of course, from eternity. He passed by where they were. And we know, of course, it's no accident. Our Lord came to this earth to go to Jerusalem and to die there for the sins of His people, to redeem His people by shedding His precious blood on the cross.

And that's what He had just said in verse 28. from this morning, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. He's the example of service. He's the example of greatness. And to give his life, minister and give. And in that is his glory revealed. Give his life a ransom for many. And then they left Jericho. A great multitude followed him.

And these two blind men sitting by the wayside. That's where our Lord goes to the wayside, by the wayside. That's where, does anybody know where College Grove, Tennessee is? That's by the wayside. That's not anywhere special. That's where our Lord goes. He sailed across a sea to find one of his Precious sheep, possessed by demons once.

Everywhere he went, he found a woman at a well, and he found a woman named Lydia worshiping with some sisters, some women that were friends that gathered together to worship. And the Lord introduced himself, the very one that they were worshiping. So it's a picture in my mind of everywhere he went, he was like sweeping up those that he would redeem on Calvary. He's bringing them along with him all the way to Jerusalem, like he was gathering them up in both arms, like a man bringing in the sheaves of a harvest. David referred to it that way, that he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. And our Lord did plant those seeds. He preached himself, his gospel, his godhood, and his saving grace everywhere he went. And then as the sheaves came up, he gathered them in his arms.

And these are two of the Lord's sheaves here. And then first notice they heard something. They heard something and it had to do with him. They heard that he was passing by. And this is a picture, of course, of the gospel. He heard the good news that somebody that could do something about his problem, both of them, their problem, was passing by.

He was in the area, he was coming, their way. And that's the way, the way that the Lord comes by the wayside to his sheep is through the preaching of the gospel now. And it always has been, it was him preaching it there. But if Christ is passing by, then there's going to be life, there's going to be salvation. They heard about a person, they heard by God's grace, of Him, and they knew who He was. They knew something about who He was. Faith still comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. By finding out about Him, hearing something about Him.

The Word, faith comes by hearing, concerns His Son, God's Son, Jesus Christ. The record of God concerns His Son. This is the record of God. that he has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. So he hears that the son is passing by and he knew something about him or he wouldn't have cried to him for what he cried to him for.

And he didn't cry until he heard the good news and neither will you, neither will I. It's not gonna get urgent for you until you hear the gospel, until you hear what's at stake, until you hear what's on the line, until you hear your condition before God and your sinfulness and how that he's gracious to sinners.

But when he heard, they heard, they cried. And so we keep telling forth that Christ is passing by. He's still in the business of saving sinners. He still comes where sinners are. And maybe the more we talk about it, the more we preach it, because it's by this means that the Lord saves his people, somebody will hear that it's the Lord that's passing by. And they'll cry for his mercy as they did.

He can give life to whomsoever he will, he said, my father, quickeneth whom he will, and he's given me authority to give life to whomsoever he will." When he saved that paralytic, he said, I did it this way. I said what I said, so that you'd know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. That's why these blind men got excited about this. That's why they cried out, because they knew something about that.

And again, how does He forgive sins? On what basis does He forgive sins? The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of men, suffer, be crucified, and rise again. Because Christ died for me and made my soul acceptable to God, I can't be charged with any sin.

That's the one. That's the one that comes our way when the Gospels preach. That's the one that's passing by the wayside. We tell of Him from the Word, and that by this means He saves sinners. He physically walked past these two blind men, and we see this wonderful story about how they were saved, but it's indicative of how the Lord saves everybody He saves. He comes where we are. He meets with us when we meet in His name. He's passing by. And we tell about him.

And when they heard, they cried. Doesn't matter how desperate your case. You can't cure one of blindness. They couldn't be cured. I'm sure if there was another way, they may might have been able to come up with the funds to get that done. that our Lord cured the incurable.

He delights to do that. And I wonder how hopeless we are, how self-sufficient we are, or how hopeless, because the Lord saves hopeless people. And what they cried for is what every sinner cries for. Again, they wanted their sight in the story, but that's a picture. of what happened on the cross, how he saves, and they cried for mercy. They knew they didn't deserve anything from him.

That's what mercy is. God not giving you what you deserve, which is to pass you right on by. We sing, pass me not, oh gentle Savior. That's what we deserve and we know it. But hear my cry. These blind men cry. And we cry, don't pass me by, Lord, don't leave me as I am. Have mercy on my soul.

They sought what they needed the most from the one who only alone could give it. That's what happens when a sinner's saved. That's a beautiful union, a beautiful appointment. And that's where faith in the Lord brings us to the feet of the master crying for mercy.

People decide to get saved these days like it's just something on your life's list of things you need to do, like a things to do list. Well, I better get insurance, and I better be good to my mama, and I better do this and that, and I better get saved. I don't know what's gonna happen when I die, so I better check that one off. It doesn't happen like that.

That's not how the Lord saves sinners. That's not what a sinner is. That's a religious person, not a sinner. And he came to give life to sinners. The publican cried for mercy, and the only way he identified himself at all to the Lord was this, I'm a sinner.

That's our whole identity. That's what we are. It's who we are. It's how we are. And he went down to his house justified. When by God's grace we hear of Christ and the gospel, as the scripture puts it, is mixed with faith in him and them that hear it. We'll see ourselves as we are and we'll see that he's our only hope and we'll cry for mercy as these did. And again, that's why we preach that we might see him and know him see ourselves and understand our case, what it took to redeem our souls.

You can know all of the doctrine now in your head, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. You can understand all mysteries and have all knowledge, but until you experience the love of Christ, until you fall in love with Jesus Christ, you're nothing. You're just making religious sounds. Teaching, doctrine is just teaching, and of course we teach, but we don't teach just so you'll have more knowledge. We teach so you'll know God's Son.

And when you do like these did, crying out, O Lord, thou Son of David, thou Son of David. And there's a very significant distinction here in what they cried. David had a lot of sons, but he's the son of David. The son of David. That was how they knew the Messiah. That was what they called the Messiah. He'll be the son of David. He'll be of the descendancy from the descendants of David. And there were a whole lot of those, but he's the son of David. And that's identifying of who he is.

They're saying, you're the Christ of God. You're the one that we've been waiting for. You're the one that fulfills all of the Old Testament types of pictures and ceremonies and the law, all of it. You're the one that God promised would come, because that was what they called him, the son of David. You're God's Christ, and we need mercy.

You're the one that Isaiah talked about when he said, that God will lay all of the iniquity of his people on you. You're the one that by that glorious transaction, by bearing our sins and being our substitute on the cross under the wrath of God for our sin, you're going to justify many. You'll justify many Look at this wonderful question that our Lord asked them. What will ye that I should do unto you?

This is just like the Savior to say that, to ask that. He's going to Jerusalem now. He's going to be betrayed and condemned and crucified. But he's asking them, what do you need? What do you need? All men are gonna forsake him, but he's gonna be faithful to his own. He's not gonna forsake them. What can I do for you? What would you have me do for you? When he held up the cup, he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

Not too busy to stop off and save one of his people. That's what he's going to Jerusalem for. is for their salvation. And think about it, is there anything that he would not have been able to give them? No matter what their answer is here, is there anything?

You know, people invent fairy tales about genies and lamps and you rub and get all your wishes and get all excited about that, asking for anything, make any wish and it'll be granted. And it's our greed and our idolatry that makes that exciting to us. But this is not a fairy tale. In this Room with us tonight, according to his promise, is the one who asks the sinner, what is it you want me to do for you? But when he does that, when he speaks to a sinner, he makes that sinner to understand that we just really have one need. We just really have one. Anything else would just exacerbate our problem.

More of this world? You want more of this world? This world. The fashion of this world passes away. We are already this world. We are the world. We talk about, oh, the world is so bad. Who do you think the world is? The one who made you and gave you everything you already have, by the way, asks you the one that spoke the universe into existence and said, the silver is mine, gold is mine, all of it. So what will you answer him when he says, what can I do for you? In illustration here, in an earthly sense, which is the, this is what the Lord's doing. He's taking an earthly situation and teaching a spiritual lesson. all of these men's problems that mattered.

They couldn't make a living. They couldn't take care of them. They couldn't produce. They couldn't provide for themselves. What was the cause of all that? They didn't ask for the symptom to be alleviated. Well, I don't mind being blind if I'm totally rich. I don't need to provide for myself. I've got everything I need. No, that wasn't what they wanted. Think how precious your eyesight is.

The woman with the issue of blood, how many problems did she have? Oh, well, you know, they went up on her medication. How's she going to afford it now? The medicine wasn't helping her anyway. How many problems did Naaman the leper have? These men were beggars, they were poor, but those are just the symptoms. They could have asked for money. They had done that many times before, right? They're sitting by the way begging. They knew how to ask for money. But this is God's Son, who has power on earth to forgive sins.

No, the problem sprang from one source, their blindness. They were poor because they couldn't work, and they couldn't work because they were blind. And this illustrates our condition. That's an earthly problem. Our spiritual problem is the same way, though. Everything bad that is the result of our sin is only a symptom. It's only a symptom of the problem. And we really just have one. Every problem that we have is because of our sin.

Lord, wash away my sins. They acknowledge his sovereignty. When he saves a sinner, that sinner always does. The trying to Jesus never saved anybody yet, and lost people know that. So they don't cry to him, they cry to Lord. They don't cry, I have decided. They cry, Lord, have mercy on me. If you will, you can. Mercy not I've decided to let you save me today.

That's what it that's what religion is What arrogance are you a beggar or is he? They knew what it was to beg a mercy beggar knows he didn't deserve what he's asking for Everybody now just expects it don't they? You have beggars that get mad when they don't get what they feel like they deserve. Oh, we ought to all pay for it. We've been underserved.

Really? Is that your problem? Is that what it is? If you're going to beg, beg. Don't expect it. These men didn't expect it, but they were going to find out if the Lord would do what they needed done. They cried. They didn't demand. Begging is very simple. You're unable to earn what you need for whatever reason it is. Blindness, lameness, a withered hand, a disease of some kind, and somebody else that has earned what you need at their discretion You ask them to graciously provide it for you.

That's what our Lord did. What we need had to be earned, but not by us. Not by us. And this is what our Lord is teaching them here and us through them. Mercy, mercy. We are unable to earn what we need. What is it we need? Righteousness. And we can't do anything to obtain it. Everything we do makes us further away from being righteous before God. Somebody else earned what we need. We don't deserve what we need.

Forgiveness. We need forgiveness. I was talking to somebody the other day, and I don't know what their spiritual situation is, but we were talking about mercy. And he was saying, I don't deserve it. I don't deserve mercy. I know. And I said, well, if you deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. And he was like, oh, yeah, I guess that's true. And it blessed his heart, I think. Somebody else purchased for us what we need. They earned it. And they purchased it.

They call unto us, ho, everyone that's thirsty. Come ye to the waters, he that hath no money. I'm not talking about supplementing your income. I'm talking about people that have nothing. Come. Are you spiritually bankrupt? Come. Are you hopeless and helpless? Come.

Buy wine and milk without money. And without price, he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. You don't have anything to eat? Why? Because you don't have any money. You don't need money, you need the Savior. You see that? Money would solve the symptom of the problem, but the Lord solved the problem. He said, if you eat of this bread, you'll never be hungry again. And money has nothing to do with it except for the fact that don't bring any of it if you have any. Come with nothing. Come buy without money. Obtain without price.

Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfies not. Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good. You're spending money on that which is bad. So come without money and eat that which is good. And let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Incline your ear. How do we eat? How do we come? How do we drink? With this right here. Incline your ear and come unto me. Here and your soul shall live. That's why it's important. It's not because we keep track of it over here to try to shame people for not, you know, for your attendance record is kind of, you know, getting rough there. No. It's because here and your soul shall live.

We're going to have to hear of the Savior if we're going to live. and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." The sure mercies is talking about how that you don't do anything to live up to the covenant. That was the old covenant. You had to live up to that one and it failed because of you, not because it was a bad covenant, but because you're a bad covenanter. But this covenant is the sure mercies of David. ordered in all things and sure without you, including you, but you didn't order it and you didn't make it sure. God did. And he specifically says in the book of Hebrews, I believe chapter eight specifically, but in several places in Hebrews, that this new covenant is not like the old one specifically in that regard, that you didn't keep the first one. And you wouldn't keep the second one if it was up to you. But this covenant is a sure mercy because it's not up to you. Our Lord stood still.

He stood still when they cried for mercy. Psalm 18, six in my distress, I called upon the Lord. Is that your testimony? And I cried into my God and he heard my voice out of his holy temple. And my cry came before him, even into his ears. That's what happened in our text. The cry of a sinner that everybody else was saying, shut up. But our Lord stopped and heard their cry. He heard the cry of a couple of worms and stopped on his way to where?

He got plenty of time to do that because that's why he was going there. This is their experience of it and the actual accomplishing of it. is gonna happen in Jerusalem. He's going there to have mercy on sinners, and on his way, what does he do? He has mercy on sinners. And he called them, verse 32.

Peter said in 1 Peter 2.9, you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, a peculiar, peculiar means owned by somebody, that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. He called them, he always does. Who he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son in whom he did predestinate, then he also called. And those same ones he justified them, and those same ones he glorified them.

See how beautifully their one need, and the fulfillment of that need, pictures our one need, and how that that need is met alone by the Savior. When he opened their eyes for the first time ever, what did they see? He had compassion on them. He touched their eyes and immediately their problem was gone. All of their problems were gone. And if your sins are gone, your problems are gone.

Since you heard the good news and believed it by God's grace, there's not any bad news. Think about it. Lay in your bed and think about it. What would be bad news if God is working everything for our good? We can call it bad news. And in a sense, you know, if we lose somebody we love or if something catastrophic happens, then yeah, you could say that's bad. But remember, there's not really any bad news if you know the good news.

It's all good. We're under the blessing of God. And death and catastrophe, it all serves the same purpose. He has a world because of His purpose of grace toward His elect. And everything that happens in that world is part of the working out of that purpose. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The first thing they saw was the Savior, the face of the God's Son. And what do we do once we see Him, once we know Him, once our sins are gone? What's life to us then? The rat race is just a rat race now. You know, do what you gotta do, excel, achieve, provide, all of those things, but not to the exclusion of this. When their one problem was gone, they could see and they saw Him. What did they do? They followed Him. They followed Him. They followed Him.

I didn't look it up in this text, but often in the New Testament, the word follow means to imitate. And so we know, even if that's not the word here, we know that that's what it often means. Follow me, follow the Lord. To follow the Lord is to imitate him. To desire to be like him. To say what he said. To do what he did. We can't do it without sin, like he did. We can't do it meritoriously, but out of love for the Savior. We want to be like him.

Matthew 18, 10, take heed that you despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven, their angels do always behold the face of my Father, which is in heaven. Now the context of that is a blessing because it tells us how safe we are in Christ. The Lord is jealous over us. Don't touch one of his sheep. Don't malign one of his sheep. Don't harm one of them.

We see how that the angels of God, our angels, he calls them our angels. Isn't that beautiful? But He's our Savior, that's more beautiful. They're our angels because He's our Savior and they do His bidding. But think about this also. They do always, always behold the face of my Father. What are they seeing? When the Lord told the disciples, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

What is glory? What is heaven? Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. For what purpose? That they may behold my. Since we've seen his face, We've begun the occupation of eternity, beholding His face. We see now through a glass darkly, but then face to face, that they may behold my glory. Let's pray.

Two Blind Men

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Two Blind Men

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