In Joshua chapter 10, we are
told how that that man by whom God calls the walls of Jericho
to fall, commanded on one occasion and the sun stood still. By the command of a mere man,
the sun stood still. We're told there was no day like
that before it or after it. that the Lord hearkened to the
voice of a man. But that was written long before
Luke chapter 18 was written. In Luke chapter 18, we hear the
voice of another man. In this passage, we see the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God who made the Son, brought to
a stand by the cry of a man. He was stopped dead in his tracks
by the cry of a soul in need. It's one thing to cause the Son,
S-U-N, to stand still. But here's a man who calls God
the Son to stand still. Let's read it together beginning
in verse 35. And it came to pass, I wonder if we will ever learn
everything that happens, comes to pass, because it is brought
to pass by the hand of our all-wise God. It came to pass that as
He was come nigh unto Jericho, Now, you'll notice as you read
the narratives of these healings of blind men around Jericho,
the gospel writers are very careful to tell us some were healed as
the Lord Jesus came to Jericho, like this man. Another, Barnabas,
was healed as he was going out of Jericho. Matthew speaks of
two being healed. There's not a contradiction.
Our Lord Jesus is here going up to Jericho. As it came nigh
to Jericho, a certain man sat by the wayside begging. And hearing
the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told
him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." Oh, what a rare blessed thing. Jesus of Nazareth is passing
right this way. 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. And Jesus stood. He stood and commanded him to
be brought unto 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, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when
they saw it, gave praise unto God." Now, the Lord Jesus was
on His way to Jerusalem to redeem and save His people. As He came
near to Jericho, He hears the cry of a poor, needy, blind beggar
for mercy. At the sound of this man's cry,
This picture here tells us Jesus stood, stopped dead in His tracks. What an amazing picture we have
before us. Here is the omnipotent God held
fast by the cry of a needy soul for mercy. Now, try to get a
picture in your mind. Our Lord Jesus set His face like
a flint to go up to Jerusalem before the world began. When
he came into this world, he came here to die at Jerusalem at the
appointed hour. And when he came here, he left
his mother's womb saying, lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. And nothing could stop him. Nothing
could cause him to pause. Nothing could hinder him. Not
Herod, not the Pharisees, not his own disciples. Nothing could
cause him to even pause on his way to Jerusalem. But here is
one poor, needy sinner. The Lord Jesus has the weight
of our eternal redemption on his heart. He has the glory of
God pressing heavy on him. And he hears the cry of a needy
soul, and he stops dead in his tracks. Surely, there's something
for us to learn here. The Son of God will never ignore. He will never refuse to hear
the cry of a needy soul seeking His mercy. Did you hear me? The Son of God will never ignore. He will never refuse to hear
the cry of a needy soul seeking His mercy. That means you cry
to Him and He won't ignore you. You seek His mercy and He will
not refuse to hear you. Come boldly then to the throne
of grace with this confidence that you may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. And let me show you several
things in the verses we've read. Here's a man first who believed
the testimony he heard from other men about the Lord Jesus Christ. And He did so in a day when very
few did. He believed the report of the
men who told Him what they knew about the Son of God. There's
not any indication that they told Him a great deal, but what
they told Him, He believed. There are great multitudes in
these days who followed the Master because of His mighty miracles,
because of the loaves and the fishes. Some followed Him because
they ate the bread. Some followed Him because they
loved Him. Some followed him out of curiosity, like Zacchaeus
in the next chapter, who was just curious to see who he is.
Some followed him because they were convinced he is God the
Son. Some followed him because they were greedy and wanting
more of what they had gotten from him. Some followed him because
they had experienced his grace and they worshipped him. But
there were few, when all said and done, who believed the Son
of God. Many, many, many who saw his
miracles believe not on him. But here is a man who hears the
report of a group of people, a man who never saw any of the
Lord's miracles, never saw one. He wasn't in the crowd when the
Lord was dispensing omnipotence like sunlight. He wasn't there.
And he hears about the master. Now I find this remarkable. I
find it remarkable. It looks to me like the first
time he heard about him. First time he ever heard about
him. He hears the son of God and believes on him. Believes
him. This man simply heard other men
and women talking about the Savior. We're told in verse 36, hearing
the multitude as they walked by, he asked what it meant. And
they told him, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Oh, what blessed
gossip. Would to God, those who hear
us most often, would hear us talking about our Savior. What blessed gossip! They were
just gossiping about the Savior. Did you hear what He did yesterday?
Did you hear what He did this morning? Remember how He broke
the loaves of fish? I wonder if He'll do that again.
Remember how He healed that man, his daughter, the other day?
I wonder if He'll do that again. Remember how he spoke and calmed
the storm. I wonder if he'll do that today. He heard these folks talking
about the Savior. Well, I wonder what he heard.
I wonder what he heard. Perhaps he heard how the Master
had healed others, even as many as had need of healing on that
day described in Luke 9. Without question, this much I
know he heard. He heard who this man is. What's all the commotion? Who are you folks talking about?
Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And when he calls on him, this
is how he calls on him, Jesus. Savior. Not just any Jesus. Jesus
of Nazareth. That one everybody's been talking
about. Jesus of Nazareth. You've heard about folks discussing
Him. This one who has come and declares
Himself to be God the Son. This one who is the Messiah,
the fulfillment of all Scripture. Jesus, our Savior. Thou Son of
David. This one spoken of long ago,
whom God has ordained to sit on David's throne forever. And
he calls him Lord, Lord, that I may receive my sight. He sees
him as Jesus, the Savior, the Son of David, Christ the King,
the Lord, whose prerogative it is to show mercy on whom he will. Lord, that I may receive my sight. I'm certain he heard about many
of the Savior's mighty miracles. But having said that, when all
that said, he didn't hear too much, did he? Oh, he heard everything he needed
to hear. But in the light of all the wrangling I hear about
and read about and listen to folks discuss when I'm in a position
where I can't get out of listening to it, He didn't hear much. Somehow, I got a hunch. I just
got a hunch. He didn't hear these folks discussing
how much you have to know about his righteousness. Don't think
so. I don't think he heard these
folks discussing how much doctrinal truth you have to have. Don't
think so. I don't think he heard them discussing
election or predestination, any of those things. Any of those
things. They were talking about a person. Now this is what you've
got to know. Baba, you've got to know Him. Did you hear me? You've got to
know Him, whom to know aright is life eternal. They said, Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. That got his attention. That
got his attention. He never passed this way before. Jesus, the Christ, the Savior,
the Son of God, the Lord, He never passed by here before,
and He may never pass by here again. If I'm going to get what
I need, I've got to get it now. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by,
and He believed what He heard. Now, that fact causes me to blush. This man simply believed the
testimony God gave him by the lips of men who knew what they
were talking about. He simply believed it. First
time he heard it. I have a library full of good
theology books. I have numerous books on apologetics. Lots of biographies about faithful
men. And I've been reading them for
37 years. But I don't know much about this
simple, plain, honest faith in the Son of God. I find it interesting
that by divine inspiration, this account is given by Luke immediately
after we're told in verse 34 that the disciples, when they
heard all that the Lord said about what He's going to accomplish
at Jerusalem in His death, they didn't understand a word. They didn't get it. But here's
a blind man. First time he hears about the Master, that's it.
This is the one I need. This is what I've been looking
for. This is where I'll find mercy if mercy is to be had.
With unhesitating faith, he called out for mercy. The fact is the
humble, broken, contrite, needy soul believes God and walks in
peace. And those who have grown so greatly
that they think they're strong and knowledgeable and they don't
have any real desperate need, who think they can take care
of things themselves, don't know much about such faith. Now second,
if we hope for mercy, if we hope for mercy, I'm talking to you
who believe God, talking to David Peterson, your wife, your family. I'm talking to you who don't
yet know what faith is. If we hope for mercy, we must
avail ourselves of every means of good God Almighty has afforded
our souls. I cannot adequately stress the
importance of diligence in using the means of grace God gives
us. We are told that a certain man
sat by the wayside begging. He sought the place where his
pitiful condition was likely to attract the most attention.
He didn't sit lazily at home and wait for relief to come to
him, but rather, he placed himself by the roadside so that anyone
who could help him and might be willing to help him as he
passed by might see him. Now, there, sitting by the wayside,
he heard Jesus of Nazareth passes by. Immediately, he begins to
cry, cries to the Savior for mercy. And had it not been that
he was there where he was at that time, at that time. Say, well, it had
to be because it was predestined. Yeah, he was sitting there because
he needed help. He needed help. And had he not
been there as Jesus of Nazareth passed by, He would not have
obtained the mercy he needed. If you care for your soul, if
you desire God's salvation, remember this blind man. Diligently use
the means of grace God has afforded you. Make it your business, make
it your business to be found in the place, the one place where
the Lord Jesus has promised his presence all the time. One place,
it's where you are tonight, in the house of God's saints. Not
listening to me on tape or on television. God didn't promise
His presence there. Tapes and radio broadcasts, television
broadcasts, those things are great uses, means to minister
to folks who can't do otherwise, but don't presume. that you're
going to get the same thing listening to the tape, watching television
as you do in this place. In this place. The Lord Jesus
said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them. And I'll make you a promise.
I'll make you a promise. If you come in the assembly of
His saints seeking Him, you'll find Him. If you come not seeking
Him and you don't know anything about His presence, the problem
is not that He's not here. That's not the problem. The problem
is He's ignored. And where He's ignored, He often
hides His face. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. Don't do that. Don't despise
the means of grace God has given you. Don't despise the preaching
of the gospel, the reading of his word, prayer. Don't despise
the assembly of God's saints in worship. Now, I've been pastoring
for 35 years. No, not 35, 34 years. And I'll tell you what my experience
has been. I'll tell you what my experience has been. Now,
I've seen, I know religious con artists. They go out and buttonhole
folks and want to get them to make a profession of faith, and
they'll tell you you're saved just because you say what they
tell you to say. I'll tell you what I've never
known. I'll tell you what I've never
known. I'm not saying it never happened. I'll tell you what
I've never known. I've never met a person who was converted. outside the preaching of the
gospel in the house of God. I'm not saying it doesn't happen.
I am saying the ordinary means God uses in saving his people
is in the house of worship, where he sends his word to his people. That's the ordinary means God
uses. But preacher, don't we believe
in God's sovereignty? Of course we do. Of course we
do. I'm fully aware that every chosen, redeemed sinner, every
man and woman predestined to eternal life shall at God's appointed
time meet the master at the place ordained of God from eternity.
But I'm also fully aware that you and I are responsible for
our souls. And we are responsible to use
the means God has put at our disposal. The Lord Jesus, I know,
is found of them who sought Him not. And I know this too. He
is always found by those who seek Him. He's always found by
those who seek Him. What wisdom this man displayed.
He took up a hopeful position by the wayside. And there he
would be likely to hear any good news that might be spread. There
he was most likely to meet with and be seen of the compassionate.
Though he was blind, he wasn't deaf. And he sat down by the
wayside, and all he could do was listen. He couldn't see. He couldn't grope around and
feel his way anywhere. All he could do was listen. But
listen he did. And he heard that Jesus of Nazareth
was passing by. Now here's the third thing. We
have before us a picture of the blessed violence of faith. We're
told in Matthew chapter 11, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force. Look at verses 38 and 39. He
cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Well, it looks to me like anybody
who knew anything about the Master would be tickled to death. Here's
somebody crying to the Savior for mercy. honoring Him as God,
our Savior, the Christ, the Messiah. And they which went before, folks
like us, who had seen His miracles, who had eaten bread broken by
His hands, rebuked Him. Oh, God, keep me from that. They told Him to hush. I told
him to hush. Don't be so noisy. You're disrupting
things. We can't hear what's going on.
Why, you're just a poor blind beggar who pays any attention
to you. You're from down the other side
of the streets. You're too dirty. You're too blind. You're too
ignorant. You can't be serious. We can't
take you serious. Hush. After all, You haven't expressed
any felt need. You don't seem to have any real
sense of your need of the Master. You seem to be unaware of why
He's come, what a great man, what a great person, what a great
God He is. You're just ignorant, so hush! But you know what He
did? He seems to have totally ignored
them. He makes no response. He just
ignores them. And the master ignored them.
Because what they said and what they did was utterly meaningless
except for being cruel and mean. He wasn't about to be stopped
by the rebukes of people who knew nothing of his misery. He was determined, if mercy could
be had, to have mercy. And his importunity in his utter
weakness, crying to the Savior for mercy, continually crying
after him, though he was discouraged in every way from doing so, his
importunity was rewarded. The master said to him, what
is it you want? He said, Lord, I just want to
see. Well, that wasn't a very good motive for coming, was it?
Why, there's much higher motives for calling on the Son of God
than that. There are much more noble reasons
to call on Him than that. But he believed Him, Rex. And
he said, what I want from you is to see. And the Lord Jesus
said, receive your sight. And His next word was, I'm going
to give you more than you asked for. Thy faith hath saved thee. And he wasn't just talking about
your faith has cured your blindness. He's telling him your faith has
given you more than that. You are a saved man and I know
that because the next thing we read, immediately he received
his sight and he followed Jesus and gave praise to God. he believed the Son of God. And he would not be put to silence
until he obtained the mercy he desperately needed. Now, listen
to me. Our need is indescribably greater
than this man's was. The blindness of the heart is
indescribably more grievous than blindness of the eye. Jesus of
Nazareth The son of David still passes by. He is not far from
you. He is not far from you. David,
he's right here, right now. Did you hear me? Let's look and
see. Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter
10. Paul is telling us how the Jews
stumbled over the stumbling block, stumbling stone, Christ Jesus
and Him crucified, going about to establish their own righteousness
because they're ignorant of this fact. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Now in verse 6,
Romans 10, the righteousness which is of the law, he's been
describing basically what should be done. But the righteousness
which is of faith speaks on this wise. Say not in thine heart,
who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring
up Christ again from the dead. What saith it? Faith doesn't
say what needs to be done. No, no. What does faith say?
The word is nigh thee. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. Blessed Son of God, have mercy
on me. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believes
with reference to righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made with reference to salvation. I'm reading it exactly as it
ought to be read. Verse 11, for the scripture saith,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. shaken, confused,
frustrated, or embarrassed, shall not be shaken. For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek. The same Lord is over
all, is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Here's this
blind man. Calling on the name of the Lord.
His words express much more than they state. To call on His name
is not simply to cry, Jesus save me, but it is to worship Him! The Lord! Jesus! The Son of David! The Son of God! As He is! Worshipping Him. Now, fall down
where you are right now and worship Him. And salvation is yours. That's the teaching. Back to
our text, Luke 8. Why will you die when life is
to be had freely? Why will you perish under the
wrath of God when He delights in mercy? Why will any rush headlong
to hell when the door of heaven is open and God Himself says,
Why will you go on carrying the guilt of sin when the Lord God
is a God who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin? Why will
you die for thirst when the water of life is right before you?
Why will you perish for hunger when the bread of life is in
the midst of you? Why? Our Lord says, ye will not
come to me that ye might have life. That's why. If you go to hell, it will be
because you will not come to Him. Oh God, graciously force
sinners and force me to come to You. Now, there's something
here in this blind man's cry about prayer. I don't know much
about prayer, don't pretend to. Oh, I can't tell you how that
pains me, but this I know. Wherever true prayer is found
in the heart, wherever God Almighty puts prayer in a man's heart,
these four things will be found. Faith. He believed the report
he heard. Jesus. Lord Jesus, Thou Son of
David. and humility. He knew his need. And he knew there was nothing
he could do about his need. He was blind. He had always been
blind. And there was no cure for his
blindness, not by man. Second, importunity. This man was like Jacob. He said,
I will not let thee go except thou bless me. I won't quit knocking
at your door till you give me the bread I need. I won't quit
crying for mercy till you give me the mercy I need. And wherever
there's true prayer, there's this fourth thing, perseverance. The man needed mercy. He knew that Christ could give
mercy he needed. He knew that he might never get
this opportunity again. And therefore, the opposition
he met with was hardly noticed by him. He continued to seek
mercy. Here's another thing. We see
here a display of our Savior's great compassion to needy sinners. When I talk about His compassion,
I'm not just talking about an emotion I'm not just talking
about a feeling. Compassion. Co-passion. Felt empathy. Compassion for
needy sinners. How do you know what compassion
is? You read it by its deeds. Look what the Savior did for
him. He calls this man to need Him. He caused him to need Him. Oh, blessed, wise, and good grace
of our great, wise, and good God. He caused this man to be
blind. Oh, blessed blindness. Second, our Savior sent somebody
Tell this man about himself. Do you have any idea what multitudes
there are this night in this world, this night in this town
who have never heard anybody tell who he is? But he's caused
you here. He sent somebody to tell you
who He is. And third, the Savior passed
by where this man was. At the appointed time of love,
He passed by on His way to Jerusalem as He was coming into Jericho.
And then we read, Jesus stood. He came to the man. He heard
his cry and he stopped. As if to say, I will make not
another step until I've answered this man's cry for mercy. As
if to say, I will stand right here, God, who waits to be gracious
until this man has found my grace. And he commanded the man to be
brought to him. He called him. Had to call him. He said, you go get that fella
and bring him right here. Oh, this is when sinners come
to Christ. This is when you'll come to Him.
when he, on the authority of his finished work, as our covenant
surety, commands his spirit and says, go fetch it. Just as David
said concerning Mephibosheth, go down to Lodibar and fetch
it, he commanded the man to be brought to him. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. And when the man was
brought to him, the Lord Jesus spoke grace to his soul, spoke
peace to him. He said, what is it you want?
I just want to see. And the master said, receive
your sight. Thy faith hath saved thee. And I love the order in
which Luke, by divine inspiration, records this. The master said
to him, all right, I'm going to give you what you asked for.
Now hang on to your seat. Your faith has saved you." And
when he heard that, immediately he received his sight. He followed
the Lord Jesus and glorified God. The Lord Jesus was honored by
this man's faith. And he honored his faith with
salvation. And then he went up to Jerusalem. and redeemed. Passages like these are intended
by God specifically to encourage needy souls to come to Christ. You may be aware that you have
great weakness and infirmity. You may say, well, Brother Don,
I don't know much. I'm afraid I'm too ignorant.
You may think, well, I don't feel like I ought to feel as
one coming to Christ. You may imagine that your sins
are so great that you cannot come to Him. Your prayers poor
and stammering. Your motives may be far from
perfect. But I'm here to tell you that
if you come to Christ with all your sins, Casting away every
confidence but Him. If you commit your soul to Him,
He declares Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Here's the fifth thing. I'll
just touch on it. Because I've already dealt with
it somewhat. Faith. always gets what it needs. Faith always gets what it needs. Now let me tell you what faith
needs. Let me tell you what faith needs. I'm not talking about
lust. James says we pray and ask of
this that we may consume things on our lust. Because we want
something to satisfy our lust. Let me tell you what faith needs. Faith needs mercy. Don't need anything else. Just
mercy. Just mercy. That's all. That's all. And faith always
gets it. Now one more thing, look at verse
43. And learn this. Nothing inspires
obedience to Christ like mercy experienced. Nothing
inspires obedience to Christ like gratitude and love. Immediately
he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all
the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. When this
blind man was given sight, when he was saved by Christ, he followed
the Lord Jesus, glorifying God. His gratitude was deeply felt. His love was spontaneous. And his following of Christ was
spontaneous. Nobody was there to tell him,
well, now you ought to love him. Nobody was there to tell him,
now this is how you ought to live now. No. No, immediately,
spontaneously, he follows the master in the way. The Pharisees
caviled at him. The Sadducees sneered at his
barbaric doctrine. The lawyers, those who taught
the law, They derided him as a base antinomian. But this man
paid no attention to any of it. He paid no attention to the Pharisees.
He paid no attention to the Sadducees. He paid no attention to the doctors
of law. He had met the master. This newborn
soul had the witness of Christ in himself. And he had the witness
in himself that this is a master worth following. He could say,
I know this, once I was blind, but now I see. He left home that
morning in his rags, I presume dirty, seldom bathed, poor man, blind, Ignorant, lost, and dead. He went home that day clean and
rich and living and seeing an heir of God. That's what I call mercy. and mercy on me. Grace experienced
in the soul is the source of true obedience. Gratitude is
the source of godliness. Love is the rule of devotion. The fact is, no one will ever
take up the cross and confess Christ. Not really. You may get
a little dose of religion, but you won't follow Christ. who
does not feel in the depths of his soul that he's head over
heels debtor to Christ and His mercy. We love Him who first
loved us because He washed away our sins in His own precious
blood. The fact is Christ has redeemed me. He came to where I was in my
desperate need. He calls me to have a need, and
He calls me in that need to cry out to Him for mercy, and He
answered the need. I'm His. And I like it that way. What
could be more reasonable? What could be more reasonable?
Oh, may God be pleased now for Christ's sake. to give you sight
who are blind, to give you faith who believe not, and to give
grace to us all, that we may, this day forward, follow Christ,
giving glory to God. God grant it, for Christ's sake.
Amen. Let's see if we can sing That
great, great hymn found on page 235, Ask Me Not, O Gentle Savior.