The Seeing Blind Man

H are your Bible today. We 'll be to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18th. We're going to finish the 18th chapter of Luke this morning. And our purpose is to help you understand that you might be able to see as well as the blind man in Luke 18 saw. That's the objective this morning. We want you to see as he saw. Even though he could not see physically, he had 20-20 vision when it came to seeing things spiritually. Luke 18, verse number 35, reads as follows: And it came about that as he was approaching Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting by the road, begging.

Now hearing a multitude going by, he began to inquire what this might be. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he called out, saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet. But he kept crying out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. And when he had come near, he questioned him, What do you want me to do for you? And he said, Lord, I want to regain my sight.

And Jesus said to him, Receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he regained his sight and began following him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, They gave praise to God. This becomes a very unique encounter in the life of Christ, for this is the last miracle. In the ministry of Christ. Except for, of course, the resurrection, the monumental miracle. But Christ has gone all throughout the region of Israel, all throughout the Galilee, all throughout Judea, preaching the kingdom of God and healing a multitude of people.

And in his healing ministry, he would portray to us what was going to happen when he would reign earthly on this kingdom during the millennial reign. Christ. And while He healed many people, all of them, while in the physical realm, demonstrated to us what He does in the spiritual realm. As you recall, his very first miracle, John chapter 2, was the wedding in Cana of Galilee.

There, he would turn that murky water into the finest of wine. To show us, that's what he came to do. He came to take your dirty life, your murky life, your filthy life, and make it the finest life. That was a symbol of what he came to do, to transform everything about you, that you would look just like him. This becomes the last miracle in the ministry of Christ. And two, it demonstrates many things to us because Israel was unable to see the Messiah. Very few people ever saw him for who he was. But this blind man, he saw the Messiah.

He understood the Messiah. Christ had healed every kind of disease. He had caused many blind people to see, many lame people to walk. He had even raised the dead. In fact, he had even already raised Lazarus from the dead. That's one of the reasons there is this great crowd following him at this time as he enters into Jericho. But the ministry of Christ and the miracles of Christ were overwhelming. And yet many did not see him for who he truly was. This blind man on this day would see the Christ, understand the Christ.

This miracle falls at a very unique place in Scripture simply because of what has taken place before this event. We know from Luke chapter 18 that Christ had just told his disciples about the centrality of the cross and everything that was going to take place when he enters into Jerusalem. Way back in Luke chapter 9, verse number 51, he had set his sights on Jerusalem. Since Luke 9, that's where his journey has taken him. He's almost there, he's just a few days away. And he told them about his crucifixion.

He had told them specifically two other times before that in Luke 18 to help them understand that he must die, that he will die. This is how it's going to happen. And they did not see that. They did not grasp it. And one of the reasons they didn't grasp it is because they didn't want to grasp it. And so, in Mark's account and in Matthew's account, there arose a discussion among them about who was the greatest in the kingdom. Here, Jesus is burying his soul with those men. I'm going to die. This is how it's going to happen.

I'm going be beaten. I'm going be scourged. I will rise again the third day. But they wanted no part of that. Instead, they wanted to be a part of who was the greatest in the kingdom. And so.

This argument arose among them, and of course, Christ would have to deal with that, and He did. But that's what their concern was. It was all about themselves. Now, much has changed over 2,000 years. That's the way we are in the church, too. All we can think about is ourselves. What's in it for us? How great can I be? Disciples portray us. In terms of our desires and our wants and the direction we want to go, they did not want to see the reality of why Messiah came and all that surrounded his death.

His scourgings, that he was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. They wanted a different kind of Messiah. They did not want to see the sad part. And so they were consumed with self. And so Christ needs to open their eyes that they would understand who exactly He is. And He would tell them that He was the Son of Man. 80 times in the Gospels, he calls himself the Son of Man. That's a title Christ gave to himself because he wanted the people to understand. Jewish nation, Daniel 7, verses 13 to 14, where one like a son of man would descend from the clouds, helping them to understand that the son of man was divine.

And so he would call himself the Son of Man. But you will note that in this text, the blind man doesn't call him Son of Man. That is very important because the disciples need to see the greatness of the Christ. And so there are many things happening in the life of our Lord at this time that would cause this miracle to take place in Luke chapter 18 to help us come to grips with the reality of the ministry of Christ. But you also need to note that there's only four more people going to get saved in the ministry of Christ.

And we're going to read about every one of them. Got a blind guy here. The next week, tomorrow, next week for us, it's going to be Zacchaeus. He's going to get saved. And then nobody else gets saved into the cross, and you have a Roman centurion and a thief. But nobody else gets saved, and yet there is a multitude of people following the Christ. All kinds of people, which adds credence to what Luke 13 says. Are there just a few being saved? Well, this ministry of Christ helps you understand, yeah, that's the way it is.

Because only a few really give their life to the Messiah. And we have the beautiful privilege of being able to study each and every one of those last. Four convers. You 'd think there'd be more. But there's not. Because in reality, during the church age, during the ministry of Christ, there's only a few who are being saved. It's not until the great and terrible day of the Lord, the tribulation, where there's a great multitude of people on earth who truly give their life to the Messiah. Up until then, there's just a few who truly want to follow the king.

Today we had the beautiful privilege of studying this one, this blind guy. Who truly gives his life to the Messiah. And so we want to look at these four conversions because we're going to ascend up into Jerusalem.

We're going to do it together as a church. And then we're going to take you. Moment by moment through the last week of our Lord's life. And as I was planning it out this week, we'll be in Luke chapter 21 on Easter Sunday, on Easter, Sunday. And that's just on Wednesday of the Passion Week. Because we're going to take you through every event that happens in the life of Christ, every conversation He has. And how it unfolds before us. And so it's going to take us a while to get through that passion week so we understand what's going on, the dynamics of that week.

And we're going to feel as the people felt. We're going to see what the people saw. Because the scripture opens up to us the beautiful portrayal of the sacrificial Lamb as he goes. To his slaughter. And so we need to relish these four conversions. We need to hold on to them because they tell us about the hope of the gospel and the greatness of the gospel. And this is one of these stories that gives us great encouragement because it truly deals with the salvation of a lost s. He sets his sights on going to Jerusalem in Luke chapter 9.

He's almost there. He has to ascend up into from Jericho up to Jerusalem, which is about 17 m away. He's going to make his way there. And as he does, we will examine the ministry of our Lord as he encounters the multitudes, as he encounters ind. Matthew and Mark both record this inc and they shed light on the incident that will help us understand what is happening here in Luke chapter 18. Five things I want you to see. Number one is the condition of the man.

Number two is the cry of the man. Number three is the compassion and command of the master. Number four is the change that was manifested in the man. And number five is the chorus of the multitude. It all begins with the condition of the man. Here is Jesus on his way to Jericho. Matthew's account tells us that he was accompanied by a massive crowd. Why? Well, there are all the miracles that Jesus performed. That adds credence to what's going on. If you go back and you realize that once he set his sights on going to Jerusalem in Luke 9, Luke only records four miracles.

Four. Now there were more, but Luke just records four. A woman in Luke 13 who was bent over. A man with dropsy in Luke 14 who was healed on the Sabbath. Luke 17, you had the healing of the ten lepers. And then you have this miracle. So Luke records these four miracles that take place from Luke 9 until Christ enters the city. Jerusalem. And as he's going, there is a multitude of people following him. Why? Well, you have the miracles, plus, it's Passover season. All the Jews are making their annual journey to Jerusalem.

And so they're all getting on the Jesus train. And they're making their way to Jerusalem. What better individual to follow than the miracle man? So that's what they're doing. They're on their way to Jerusalem. And Jericho is that first c west of the Jordan, six miles north from the Dead Sea, 17 miles east from Jerusalem.

And Jericho is that city. They would have crossed over the Jordan. They would have made their way toward Jericho. And you can imagine that a multitude of people were walking toward Jericho. Now, Jericho is in a very. Dry area. It's a place that's very warm in the winter, very hot in the summer. We were there in February this past week, and it was really warm. And so it's warm in the winter, hot in the summertime, and so there is this dust that's kicked up because all these people are following Jesus.

They're on the way to Jerusalem, so you can see the multitudes from a distance. Because of the dust rising, ascending to the heavens, because of the multitude of people that are coming. Toward Jericho. Jericho is called the city of palms. It's a beautiful place. Herod built a palace there. He built a palace there because of its beauty. Herod went there to die because it was a place where he saw as a beautiful place to live and to die. In Jericho, located. There in the wilderness is like an oasis, a beautiful location, a beautiful place just w of the Jordan River.

It had agricultural gardens. It was beautiful because of its fortress. But we would call Jericho because of Joshua chapter 6. We understand that, right? Those of you who are with us in our study of Joshua, we realize the famous story of the walls of Jericho and how they came tumbling down. We recognize Jericho because of Rah the harlot. Who was in the hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11? So we understand Jericho. We've heard about Jericho. We grew up in Sunday school singing songs about the walls of Jericho.

We understand that, which is a very important element to the story. Because in the time of Jesus, there were two Jerichoes. There was the old Jericho, the remnants of the old city, and then there was the new city that was built around that. Which helps you understand the dynamics of the text because both Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus healed the man as he was leaving Jericho. And Luke tells us that he healed the man as he ent Jericho. So, which is it? Answer: it's both. Because he could be leaving the old Jericho and entering the new Jericho.

And so Matthew and Mark Right from the perspective that he's leaving or is exiting the old Jericho, Luke says he's entering the new. Jericho. So it's not really a big deal because even in Luke's account, if you take a literal translation of the word approaching, it's literally in the vicinity of, and that's true, it's in the vicinity of, of Jericho. And that's exactly what the Bible tell us. And so, if you've been to Jericho, you look up, and there's this massive mountain. It's called the devastation.

Those of you who are with us this past February have seen that mountain. There's a cable car that goes up there now because on top, there's this Catholic church, it's called the Mount of Temptation. Many archaeologists believe that this is the wilderness spoken of in the Gospels about where Christ would go during his temptation, because it's a very Dry wilderness area. And maybe that's the case because in the Jordan, Christ would have been baptized. And if the Jordan River is just west or east of Jericho, and the Bible tells us that the Spirit of the Lord drove the Son of Man or the Son of God.

Into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days, you can understand the dynamics of that city. So, here is Christ. He's going to Jericho. He knows he's been baptized in the Jordan River to commence his ministry, and now he's going to the city that's at the base of a hill called the hill of the devastation, where possibly he would have been tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. Early on in his ministry. You understand the dynamics of the story? All that's happening in the mind of Christ. And so he enters into the city.

Of Jericho. And the people are lined in the streets. They see the multitudes coming. Someone probably has gone ahead and told them it's Jesus of Nazareth. And people have lined the streets. People are packing up to go to Jerusalem for Passover. So there's just a massive amount of people. We're not talking about a couple of hundred. We're talking about thousands upon thousands of people who go and ascend Jerusalem for Passover. And they're following Jesus. And there's a blind man. And the buzz about Jesus is huge.

Lazarus has already been raised from the dead. Everybody knows that. The rulers of Israel wanted to kill Lazarus because of his testimony of the resurrection. They've also been willing to kill Jesus. And so news about Lazarus has already spread, which is in Bethany, not too far from Jericho anyway. And so there's a massive amount of people buzzing about the Jesus train. I mean, after all, I mean, here is the miracle worker. He's been doing this for three years. He's coming to our town, to our city.

And on his way in, amidst all the commotion, sits this blind beggar. Now he can't see Jesus, obviously. He's blind. He doesn't know if Jesus has a crown on his head. He doesn't know if Jesus has a scepter in his hand. He does not know if Jesus is garbed in a royalty. He does not know because he cannot see. Yet his heart could see. And that's all we need to know about this man. And so, amidst all this commotion, the Bible tells us, verse 36: Now, hearing a multitude going by, he began to inquire what this might be.

What's going on? What's happening? He hears the noise. He hears the commotion because his ears are good. And if you've ever been to Jericho and the surrounding areas, because of all the dust being kicked up. By the multitude of people, you can almost smell the dirt in the air as it enters your nostrils because it's so heavy, it's so thick because it's so dry. So he's spelling the dirt, and he hears everything, and he wants to know what's going on. What's happening? And someone tells him. Simply, they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

Jesus of Nazareth. Now remember, blindness was a big thing in Israel. A lot of people were blind. Some were born blind, like the man in John 9. Okay? Others were made blind because of disease or because of infections or because of accidents. People were made blind. So, blindness was a big deal. And for Jews, they looked down on this kind of thing because this man was of the low life. Remember John 9? Was asked by the disciples who sinned, this man or his parents, as to why he is this way. If you're blind, it's because God made you that way because of your sin.

So he was the Lord. That's why he was a beggar, he had no friends. Who wants to befriend a person that's been cursed by God? So he has no friends. He's been rejected by his family. That's why he's at begging mode. And there he sits. Hears the commotion, feels the dust on his face, ask. What's going on? What's happening? Someone says, Oh, it Jesus of Nazareth. Now, in those days, they gave you a name and they associated your name with a place. And to say that it was Jesus of Nazareth would be true.

Okay? But they gave him a geographical answer, and he gives them. A theolog answer. They say it's Jesus of Nazareth. As soon as he hears that, what's he do? Son of David. He didn't say Jesus of Nazareth. He said, son of David. Now, everybody would know who the son of David is because that's the essence of the identity of the Messiah. He is from the life and line of David, King David. So he didn't say, Jesus at Nazareth, have mercy on me. He says, Son of David, have mercy on me. And they'll say, you know, be quiet, begging man, blind man, cursed man, be quiet.

Don't be talking about that. So, what's he do? He yells all the more. He begins by saying, Son of David, have mercy on me. Be quiet, begging man. Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me. He begins to yell. Why? Listen, when you believe in Jesus, you can't be quiet. You can't be quieted. You got to speak it. Now, you know, I think that's, you'd say, yeah, amen, brother. But I had a few mumblings in the back, but amen. So, you, I wonder where you are. You know, my father has lost his voice pretty much, and he can hardly speak.

So, someone in the church made him a sign. It says amen. Because my father used to always say amen, amen, amen. We can't say that anymore. So he holds a sign-up now.

What do you want to say, amen? Which really is the cue for everybody in the church to say amen. See? So maybe we should get a sign that some of your front can hold up to help you understand. This is when you need to say amen. So be it, Lord. Amen. That's the truth. So here was this begging man who could see better than all those Who had physical sight because he saw with his heart and his soul, not with his eyes. He knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of David. And this becomes a pivotal point because this would be the last question that Jesus asked leaders.

We're going to go through that last week. Of the life of Christ on Wednesday, there's a series of questions that they come and they barrage Jesus with the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Herod, they all come with a question. Jesus squelches everything. They have nothing else to say. So Jesus says, I want to ask you a question.

Let me ask you guys a question. Oh, okay. Ask us. And he asked him a question about who is the son of David? Who is the Christ? And they answer, oh, he's the son of David. Because they know the Messiah is the son of David. So here's this blind man knowing that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He knows that. He knows he's the son of David. He knew what the angel Gabriel said to Mary way back in Luke chapter 1, verse number 32. He shall be great, and we call the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

Son of Man is Son of David. Son of David is son of God. It's all the same person. And the blind guy, he sees that. He sees with his heart. He sees with his soul. Son of David, have mercy on me. Isn't it interesting that when you go to Matthew's account, it says in Matthew chapter 21, I believe it is. Yes, Matthew 21. After he cleanses the temple, having entered Jerusalem. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done, and the children who were crying out in the temple, saying, Hosanna to the Son.

Of David. Where did the chorus, Son of David, begin? It began in Jericho. With a blind guy who was a beggar, who, for all practical purposes, by the Jewish belief, was cursed by God, but he knew that Jesus was the son of David. Jesus heals this guy, thus begins the swelling Chorus, Hosanna, son of David, save us. See how quickly that chorus would change before the week was out. But this is where it all began, with the blind man who could really see the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, son of David.

Son of God. And so you have the condition of the man, then you have the cry of the man. It's a cry for mercy. It's a cry for mercy. Have mercy on me. It's a cry of Psalm 4, Psalm 6, Psalm 9, Psalm 25. It's the cry of The penitent heart. Oh Lord God, have mercy on me. And we won't hear any cry like this until we get to the cross. And there will be a thief hanging there who says, Remember me. Asking God for mercy. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Will you be merciful enough to not forget me?

When you go into your kingdom. And that whole conversation between Christ and this thief opens up to us a whole door, a whole window of what it is the thief saw. That nobody else saw on that day on Cow Mountain. He cries for mercy. And that's what he does. And the crowd kept telling him to be quiet. But God desires the cry of the penitent heart. He wants us to cry out to him. As the publican in Luke 18, when he beat upon his breast, Lord, be merciful unto me, a sinner. God elicits that cry from his people.

He wants us to cry out for him, to beg him for mercy. He believed everything he needed to believe in order to be saved by the Messiah. He saw what no one else in the crowd saw. Even though they were able to observe all the miracles, they were able to see him. He saw no miracles. He might have heard of them. He probably did. He had heard maybe some of the messages. I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe just had second-hand testimony of what had happened about the sermons that Christ preached.

He couldn't download it to his iPod or his iPad and listen to it while he sat there. With his earphones on his ear, listening to the messages of Jesus, he had to hear from somebody else. They never saw the miracles. Probably only heard the messages secondhand, but he knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of David. So he cries out to him to have mercy upon him. Which leads us point number three: the compassion of the master and the command of the master.

And Jesus stopped and comm that he Be brought to him. Matthew 20, verse 34 says, and he had compassion on him. Here is Jesus with a multitude of people. The volume is loud around him with all the commotion and all the talking. He's entering the city of Jericho. There's a lot of commotion there. And there's this one voice out of the crowd crying for mercy. One voice. He hears it, he stops, has compassion on the man, and commands him to come to him. Now, Mark's account says it this way, Mark 10, verse number 49.

And Jesus stopped and said, Call him. And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take courage, ar. He 's calling for you. Can you believe this? He wants you, he wants to see you. And casting aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. Now, folks, this is crucial. Why? That's all he had was a cloak. That's all he had. That's all of his possessions. Was wrapped up in a cloak that would keep him warm on those cold nights. But he was so willing to come to Jesus. That he would cast that which made him comfortable as, that he might approach the Messiah.

No one said, Hey, cast your coat aside, but that's what he did. Because he was willing to for everything else that gave him comfort that he might go to the Messiah. That's why there's only a few being saved. If we're un to cast aside our comforts, that we might come to Jesus alone for all that He has to give. But that's exactly what he did. He jumped up, he came to Jesus, he threw off his beggar's coat, all that he had in this world. He cast aside because he came as quickly as possible and wanted nothing to hinder his approach to the Messiah.

Nothing, nothing to get in his way, nothing that would cause him to stumble. He got rid of it and came to Jesus. And when he got there, he came to him. Jesus says, What do you want me to do for you?

Now, this is the master. Asking to be his servant, what do you want me to do for you? He says, I want to regain my sight, telling us that he had seen before, that he had had sight from birth. And that evidently there was some accident or some disease that he had contacted that would cause him to lose the sight. I want to regain my sight, I want to be able to see once again. That's The compassion of the Master. He says to him, Lord Kyrias, Deity, Lord God. I want to reg my sight. Matthew 's account says that Jesus touched his eyes.

Oh, by the way, Matthew tells us that there were two blind men. Two. Luke doesn't, and Mark doesn't. But Mark tells us the name of this blind guy. His name is Bart, son of Timaeus, son of one who loves God. This is blind Bart. And he jumps up, he comes to Jesus, and Jesus says, What do you want me to do for you?

I want to regain my sight. Lord, I want to regain my sight. Lord, you are God. Lord, you are holy. Lord, you are Son of David. You are Messiah. I want to regain my sight, and Matthew's account says that Jesus touched their eyes. He said, reg your sight. Receive your sight. Wow, your faith has made You whole. In an instant, he was able to see. Every miracle of Christ was total. Every miracle of Christ was verifiable. Every miracle of Christ was inexplicable. Every miracle of Christ was supernatural.

Listen, for a blind man to be able to see, Instantaneously is a miracle of God. Everybody would know he could see. It's one thing to heal someone's back pain. It's another thing to heal their blindness. How do I know if your back is healed? Can't see it. But I can tell you whether or not you can see again. And this man was totally verifiably Completely, supernaturally healed by the touch of the Son of David, who is the Son of Man. Who was the Messiah of Israel? And as the blind man said, He is Lord, He is God, He is King.

That's who did it. And he healed him. Look at the change put in before that was manifested. Immediately, it says he regained his sight. It wasn't, you know what? Go down to the Vision Center and let them check you out. Go down and see what Lens has to say about your eyes now.

No, he regained his sight immediately. And upon receiving his sight, two things changed: his walk and his worship. Immediately, he followed Jesus. Immediately, he glorified God. He put God on display. Listen, when you're saved, your faith has made you well. Your faith has saved you. The word is so. It's used periodically throughout Luke to always speak of the salvation of one's soul. You don't have to have faith to be healed because Jesus healed lots of people with no faith. But you got to have faith to believe in God, or you can't be saved.

And he had the faith because God had granted him the opportunity to believe. And so he believed, and once he was able to see, and Christ says to him, Your faith has saved you.

What happened? The change was unmistakable. He walked and followed Jesus. My guess is, he followed him right up to Jerusalem. Followed him right into the city of Jerusalem. My guess is, he was probably one of the 120 in the upper room in Acts chapter 2. He was a follower of the Messiah. And he worship the Messiah. He glorified God. He wanted to worship and honor this king that had sa him. The Bible says very clearly in Luke 18, this is what the man received.

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God. who shall not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come eternal life. Wow. He automatically received that. He came to the Messiah. Who knows whether he would be a part of the 120 in the upper room? We don know, but We're going to put him there anyway, just because of his belief in Christ. There were so few being saved anyway during the earthly ministry of Christ.

When you find one that is, you want to put him in the book of Acts, second chapter. Because there's not very many who were saved during the ministry of the Messiah. And then I want you to see the chorus of the multitude. Point number five. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise. To God. This is the seed of the chorus that will be sung when Christ enters into Jerusalem. This is where it begins, right here. And there was a chorus of praise to God from the multitude. It was all superficial.

There's a multitude of people today in churches giving praise to God. But it's superficial. Superficial praise, as it was on this day. The people who had seen everything, who had seen this miracle of a blind man who cried out to the Messiah and he had compassion on him, healed him, told him that his faith had saved him. And he walked after the Messiah. He worship the Messiah. And everybody who saw that, there was a chorus that swelled with praise to God. But it didn't change their hearts. Because in a few days, that praise will continue at its peak.

But a few days after that, it's a chorus of crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify him. What are the lessons that we learn from this story about blind Bartimaeus? The son of one who loves God. Three things. When we went to Israel this past year, we sat down right on the outskirts of Jericho. And went through the story so the people that went with us could be able to visualize and actualize that which took place in that city some 2,000 years ago. And I asked him three questions, the same three questions I'm going to ask you.

Have you se the Master? Have you seen him? Because you don't see him with a physical eye. Everybody saw Jesus with their physical eye, but did not see him as son of David, son of God, Messiah of Israel. But the blind guy did. He saw the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. And the question comes to you today: have you seen the Messiah for who he is? Have you seen him with your soul? Have you seen him with your heart? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Have you seen him? Or to you, is he just another prophet?

Is he just another man? Is he just another individual from Nazareth? Do you know him just geographically, or do you know him theologically, a son of David? Son of God, Messiah of Israel. Have you seen the Master? Have you seen the Messiah? Jesus said in John 20, Blessed are those who did not see and yet believe. Thomas, you've seen, you've believed. But there will come people after you who will not see what you have seen. But they will believe because they w by faith and not by sight, and they have seen with a spiritual soul.

Have you seen the Master? In John 12, the question was asked, Sir, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. If you don't see him in all of his glory, in all of his beauty, in all of his splendor, as son of God, son of David, Messiah of Israel, then you have not seen him. For that's who he is. Number two: question: Have you seized the moment?

Have you seized the moment the Bible says in Luke's Gospel that Jesus was passing by? The blind guy, he seized the moment. He wasn't going to let Jesus pass by without crying out to him. He wasn't going to let it happen. And even though everybody else said, hey, be quiet, blind guy, we don't want to hear that. He yelled even louder because he seized the moment. How many people go to church and never seize the moment? They might go and they might even see Jesus. But they say, you know what? Maybe next week.

I'll seize the moment. Maybe next week I'll cry out to him. Maybe tomorrow I'll cry out to him. But the NFL football starts today. I got to get home and watch my recorded game. I, my wife's fixing this big spread. I got to get home and see the game. I'll do it next week. I was seized the moment. For Jesus is passing by today. He's here today. He's saying, Will you follow me? Will you cast aside that which makes you comfortable and embrace me? See, the blind guy is once again an illustration of Luke 9:2.

If any man wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Let him cast aside all those things that keep him from coming and follow only me. Have you seized the moment Jesus truly is passing by? And number three.

Have you shared the miracle? Have you shared the miracle? That is, have you told anybody else about the transformation that's taken place? If you've seen him for who he is, if you seize the moment to embrace him as Lord and Savior. Like the blind guy, there has been an immediate change in your life. Folks, when someone is saved. There is not a period of transition until they are changed. They are changed immediately. That which was their God is no longer their God. They are serving the one true God.

They are living for God. They are honoring God. As the blind man walked after him, he followed him because the command of scripture is: follow me. Follow me. Those who are saved follow Jesus because they want to be just like Jesus. If you don't want to be just like Jesus, You're not following Jesus. If you're not following Jesus, you didn't seize the moment because you didn't see the Messiah for who He is. Stop fooling yourself. And stop trying to fool everybody else because you're not, even though you might think you are.

Have you seized the moment? Have you shared the miracle? Have you told somebody else about the transforming grace of God that took you from Satan's domain? And trans you into the kingdom of God's dear Son, and made you a children of the living God, a child of the king? Have you told anybody that? Have you said, listen, my life's been changed. I've given my life to Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, the King of glory. Have you taken the opportunity to share that miracle with somebody else that they might embrace the Messiah?

For God has left you here for that purpose. Maybe the only light in Jericho. Well, I guess there were two lights. There was the blind guy, and then there was Zacchaeus, who we'll talk about next week. Left them there. After he died and rose again, that they might share the miracle. The miracle of salvation, the grace of God bestowed upon sinful man, that he might be a follower of the living God. That's the story of the blind guy in Luke 18. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for today. Our prayer is that all of us would have seen your glory, understood your identity, and followed you in the ministry entrusted to us as children of the living God.

And pray, Father, that if someone is here and has not seized that opportunity, that moment, and said, Lord, I embrace you. I want to cast aside everything that's kept me from you. And I want to follow you and worship you. We pray that today would be that day. They would take what it is you have done in their lives and share it with somebody else. That they too might experience what the blind man experienced when he cried out, Son of David, have mercy upon me. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.