Not realizing that his cry was what God was waiting for the whole time. It was a cry that brought those walls down many, many years before and it was a cry now that was going to bring his walls down and Jericho was going to be repeated all over again.
Oh God, would you help your people to cry out to you? God tells us in his word in Hebrews 11, 1, now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Faith is confidence and trust in who God is and what he says.
We need to call out to him and he will hear. But as we'll learn today from Carter, how much faith is faith? Let's discover more as we join Carter right now teaching from Luke 18 about a blind man who is blind. Sitting along the roadside near Jericho. Luke chapter 18 beginning at verse 35. It says, then it happened as he was coming near Jericho that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.
Now let's just stop right there for a moment. Jericho is significant. Now in the previous verses, Jesus had just told his disciples that we're going up to Jerusalem, I'm gonna be delivered to the Gentiles. I'll be mocked, insulted, spit on, scourged, killed and I will rise again on the third day. So he's talking about this incredible victory that he's about to win for all of humanity. Anybody in humanity that are willing to trust in God, he's going to win this incredible victory for all of us. He's going to open our prison doors. He's going to give sight to our blinded eyes. He's going to bring healing to our wounded hearts and he's going to, his blood will cleanse us from everything we've done that has alienated or separated us from God. And we'll become children of God. And thus the scripture that says he took our captivity captive and gave gifts unto men becomes our promise for the future. Giftings and abilities that are given by God to do things that only God can do through us.
We're not capable of doing it in ourselves. And that's in a measure what this story is about. It's interesting that he's coming near Jericho. Now Jericho is a place with an incredible history. This is where the people of God who have been years in captivity and then years in the wilderness on top of that are now being brought by the mercy of God into this place of promise. It's a promised land, but it's a place of God's promise.
It's a type to us of what becomes ours through our savior Jesus Christ. Now it was significant because when Joshua and the children of that generation crossed over the river of Jordan and they came to a stronghold in this place of promise. And when we start walking with God, very often there'll be a stronghold there, some kind of a stronghold in everyone's life that says you can go this far and you can go no farther.
You're in the land, so just be thankful you're in the land, but you're not going to go into the fullness of what God has for you because you're going to be, this stronghold is strong enough to keep you here and keep you in bondage even though you've crossed over the river and you're now in this place called the land of promise. And now there was a certain man, a blind man who was sitting by the road begging and he's a perfect type of somebody who knows the history. Everybody there knew the history. The people of God were brought in and for several days they had to circle the city. And then God says, when I tell you to shout, shout. And when they shouted, I don't know what the shout was. I think it was just a generic shout. Everybody shouted something.
They couldn't have coordinated it because they were told not to talk for the previous days before it. So I don't know what they shouted, but they shouted something that sounded like victory. And when they shouted to God and according to God, the walls of that stronghold came tumbling down. And it was God's showing that generation and subsequent generations that when you call out to me, I'm going to hear you.
When you call out to me, even the strongest of strongholds. Now these walls were thick enough in Jericho that people actually lived inside the walls. That's how thick those walls were.
They were impenetrable in the natural. Just like many of us had things or are struggling with things in our lives that are impenetrable apart from the mercy and the power of God. And so here's this man in this place of history.
Now he knew the history and all the people knew the history of this place called Jericho. But here he is on the roadside begging every day in the land of promise, come to a place. And it's almost like the devil says this far and no farther. Just be thankful you're part of the heritage of the children of God, but you're not going to go any farther. You're not going into the fullness of what God has for you. And you know, this man is an inheritor in a sense of what God had given them. And what was about, of course, to be given them through Jesus Christ. But he's an inheritor of these things, but he's begging. Begging for mercy, begging for just a little bit of hope every day.
And some of us have been there from time to time where you don't have this grand vision of the future anymore. You're begging God, get me through today. God, just have somebody speak a kind word to me. If they can't give me a coin or a loaf of bread, at least have them speak a kind word to me.
Or at least have somebody notice me in my pain, in the place of bondage that I'm in. And so here he is in this place that has a history of victory. It has a history of God's power on display. But here he is in this place and he can't go any farther. He can't see a way beyond because he's blind. He can't see a future. He can't see a way out of his predicament. He can't see any of the promise. Everybody probably passing him by talking about, isn't the promised land a wonderful place? And you probably think it must be, but I've never seen it.
And you know, people go to church sometimes and pastors are getting up like me and they're talking about victory and there's people always sitting in the congregation say, God, well, that must be nice, but I've never seen it. My heart's not been healed. My eyes don't see a future. I'm still inside a prison I can't get out of.
I don't have the strength to walk. And as he goes and he hears a multitude passing by and he asks them what it means. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.
And it speaks in type of the hearting in this society today. They're all around us everywhere. And they hear of us on our way to church. And there's an inquiring in the hearts of many, many people personally speaking.
I've never seen such hunger as I'm seeing in this generation right now. God, would somebody tell me, where do you go on Sunday morning? You tell me you're going to church.
What is that? What happens there? Why do you go there? What do you hope to find there?
Is it interesting there? And there's a multitude passing by. And I think of all the people going to church in America every Sunday now and passing by all of the wounded, bruised, broken, bleeding, blind people of this particular generation and hurriedly just scurrying by while those that are relegated to begging are just sitting there saying, where's everybody going?
And what do they hope to find when they get there? And so they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Something beyond his normative hope. He probably heard about this man who could do miracles.
Obviously he had. The stories, I think he just heard of this, people are passing by. Have you heard about Jesus? Jesus set my daughter free. Jesus helped my family.
Jesus healed my marriage. Jesus. And he's hearing about all this stuff that this man, Jesus, and he now hears that Jesus is passing by and he starts crying out. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And the scripture says in verse 39 that those who went before warned him to be quiet.
Imagine. Those who went before the Lord. Those who were supposed to be witnesses of him. Those who were walking with him actually at this time.
This particular moment in history, they're actually walking with him. But they're telling this man to be quiet. I think of all the church services that go on all throughout our country in this particular generation where we would tell that poor sinner, be quiet, be quiet. You see, that's not the way things are done here. You see, we do things with dignity here.
We don't want people crying out. Matter of fact, if somebody like this man cried out in most churches, they'd be ushered out by the security. Just a man who wants to be free. Just a man who's tired of being blind. Just a man who's just as God. God, is there any hope for me?
Is there a future? Folks, let me tell you straight out. I'd prefer the cries over just a silent half-dead church. I'd prefer God send them here. If they can't go anywhere else, send them here.
We're not going to throw them out if they start crying out. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. There's nobody here that's going to say if... I'll tell you what. I'll make you a promise. If you tell that man to be quiet, we'll throw you out and we'll keep him in the church.
I'll tell you straight out. Those who went before warned him to be quiet, but he cried out more. Son of David, have mercy on me. Oh God. I remember one day back in Canada, church was over and we had church from 10 till 12 o'clock. And then at 12 o'clock, I would dismiss formally the service. Then we would stay and pray and worship.
Sometimes it would last a few hours. We'd just sing and we'd just pray. And I remember one day the church was particularly full. And after about an hour of singing, this lady stands up in the middle of the church. She goes, somebody help me. I'm lost. I'm lost.
Somebody help me. Instead of throwing her out of the church, people started gathering around and led her to Christ and brought her into the place where she could worship. And I remember thinking, God, we say we want a spiritual awakening in our nation, but we want it all nice and orderly and clean and without any disturbance. If we want a spiritual awakening in this nation or any other nation, there are going to be people crying out. Oh God, give us the people crying out one more time in your house. All of our niceties and all of our formulas and the way we've learned to do things is gonna go to the wind because people are not gonna care anymore.
The more they told him to be quiet, the more he started to cry out. Have mercy on me. Finally recognize somebody is passing by that can help me. Somebody that can set me free. Somebody that can give me a vision for the future.
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. I'm not willing to play a religious game. I'm not willing to live in the past.
I'm not willing to be part of all the religious niceties that go along with this journey with Jesus. I wanna see. I want a future. I want this inheritance. It's supposed to be mine. It's supposed to belong to the people of God in the promised land. And I've never seen it.
I've never seen it. I'm tired of hearing about it. I'm tired of hearing the testimonies of other people. I want to see. I want to be free. I want a song. I'm tired of hearing everybody else's song. I want my own song. I want my own story. I want life.
Jesus didn't say you came to give life and to give it more abundantly. God, I want life. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of living this way.
I want life. Son of David, have mercy on me. And so verse 40 says, Jesus stood still.
I love that. There's probably a thousand or 2000 people traveling with him and everybody's trying to push him in their direction. You got the political crowd trying them to move him in that direction. You got the bread people that just want them to keep baking and making bread for them. You got all these people with all their agendas and somehow in all these agendas, they forgot their history. They forgot that the walls of Jericho came down with a cry.
They forgot that it was a cry that was the first sign that the promised land was theirs. And suddenly he stands still. Suddenly Jesus says, I'm not willing to be part of this religious parade anymore. I came to be given for the blind and the poor and the maimed and the lame and the broken and the imprisoned in their bodies and in their minds.
I came to give life and I came to give it abundantly. And he stood still, hallelujah. And the scripture says he gave a commandment. Bring him to me. As a matter of fact, it says he commanded him to be brought to him.
Now I don't think it was a command. He didn't stand and say, I command you to come to me. No, he said, come to me as we are tonight. Come to me, you who labor, you who are heavy laden, you who don't see a future, come to me. I'll give you rest. Come learn of me. I'm meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls.
And so he stood still and everybody had to stop. Oh God, stop us again in our parade. Stop again, Jesus Christ, I cry out to you.
Do again what you've done in days of old. Oh God, you hear the cries that we don't hear. And when we become indifferent to struggles around us, you are not indifferent. When we're telling people who could be free to be quiet, God, would you help us to break out of our box that we've built around all that we do in your name? And so he commanded him to be brought to him. And when he'd come near, he asked him, he said, what do you want me to do for you? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. God, I want to see.
God, I want to see. I think of the people that I'm speaking to, you want to see a way out of your addiction. You want to see a way out of your depression. You want to see a way out of your brokenness. You want to see a way out of your hopelessness. You want to see a way out of your weakness and things that have surrounded your life and every day is just like yesterday except darker.
It's almost like the blindness is increasing. I don't see a way. Jesus Christ, I know you can help me. So God, I'm asking you, I want to see.
I want to see. A real simple prayer. And Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. How much faith did he have? You know, we preach faith as if you have to have faith in faith. You have to build up this mountain of faith.
You have to have it all together. You have to have all your theological ducks in a row and you have to pray in such a way that it's pleasing to God. How much faith did he have? There's no evidence, even new scripture. Have mercy on me. That's all he had. But it was enough. That's all the faith he needed. Somebody was passing by that could help him and he knew it and that's all the faith he needed. Have mercy on me.
And Jesus looks at this man and says, receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. Don't get trapped into thinking you have to know a mountain of theology. It's a good thing to study.
It's a good thing to have knowledge. You're going to need it one day. But right now, where you are in your struggle, you don't need any more than a cry. A cry to the one who came to set you free. A cry to the one who can set you free.
Your faith, your faith in coming into this prayer meeting, whether it's tonight, tomorrow, the next day, next week or next year, your faith in coming into this prayer meeting and the cry it will produce in your heart is enough to make you whole. It's enough to give you sight. It's enough to open your prison doors. It's enough to give healing to your broken heart. It's enough to bring the presence of God into your darkened mind and into your darkened life and into your darkened home. It's enough to give you a vision for the future and the strength of God to make that future in your life a reality. Your faith in being here in this meeting is enough to make you whole. And it says in verse 43, immediately he received his sight, immediately and followed him, glorifying God for what you think his testimony was. I studied the book of Hebrews for six months.
It's a good thing to do, but that's not what set him free. He followed and said, listen, I was blind. I was on the side of the road. People were telling me to be quiet. I heard he was passing by and I just started to cry out, Jesus. I know there's somebody crying out already. Jesus, have mercy on me. You see, he hears your cry. Nobody else may hear it. There might be nobody else in your house, nobody in your room, nobody in your apartment, nobody on your city block that even cares, but Jesus hears it.
And even though he's got a universe to look after, he'll stop what he's doing right now because he heard your cry and he would say, bring him to me or bring her to me. Jesus says, what would you have me to do for you? What is it you're looking for?
In this case, he wanted to receive his sight. I wanna see my family whole. I wanna see our family gatherings to be joyful things and not painful things. I wanna see my children free. I wanna see a future for my life. I want to see a purpose for why I was even created. I wanna see my prison doors opened.
I want to see freedom that you said you came to give me. And immediately he received his sight. This is what I'm believing for you who've come into this prayer meeting and you who are online who are listening. I'm believing for the, I'm gonna call it the immediacy of God.
There's no 17 steps to this. It was immediate. His eyes were opened. Can you imagine? Can you imagine that moment? Imagine if he'd never seen and every day he had to sit in this place that had a history of victory, not realizing that his cry was what God was waiting for the whole time.
It was a cry that brought those walls down many, many years before and it was a cry now that was gonna bring his walls down and Jericho was going to be repeated all over again. Oh God, would you help your people to cry out to you? Would you help the moms and dads to cry out for their children? Would you help us to cry out God that you would make us into the people that we're supposed to be? Would you give us vision for the future? Would you give us the strength, oh God, that we need to make a difference in our generation?
Would you open our prison doors? Would you give us those giftings that you told us belong to us because of your victory on the cross? Immediately he received his sight and followed him.
That's the call. Come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. And he glorified God, glorified God.
I used to be blind, but now I see. I mean, you don't need any more of a testimony than that. That's a phenomenal testimony. Except for Lazarus, he could say I used to be dead, but now I live.
I'm taught that testimony. That'd be a great game in the church, taught that testimony. It's like everybody goes silent after Lazarus.
Like, what do you say after that? Or Elijah could stand up and say, well, my bones were in a grave and they threw a man into my grave and he came back to life again. There's no limit to what God can do, but immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And when the people saw it, they gave praise to God. And it's funny, they could see, but they couldn't see. And when they saw that he saw, then they saw what God could do.
A lot of seesawing in that particular. And they gave praise to God. Father, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of the victory of Jesus Christ, God Almighty, we're asking you to answer the cry of every heart, every person sitting alone in their apartment, in their car, at work, on a park bench, wherever it is that they are, God, hear the cry. Jesus, son of David, son of God, have mercy on me. And you haven't changed, Lord.
You're still the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your word tells us that, and God, we believe that with all of our heart. Oh, God, you heard that cry. You called him and you gave him sight to see things he'd never seen before, to go places he'd never gone, to sing a song he could never sing.
To share a testimony he'd never had just because he heard that you were passing by. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
Don't let anybody remain quiet as you are passing by. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on this generation. Have mercy on the addicted. Have mercy on the afflicted. Have mercy, God, on the brokenhearted. Have mercy on the imprisoned. Have mercy on the rebellious. Have mercy, oh, God, on those who don't even know that mercy is available.
Father, I thank you. I thank you, God, that you hear this. You hear the sighs right now. You hear the cries right now. God, we don't have to shout it.
We can whisper it. Jesus, have mercy on me. And God, you will. That's who you are and it's what you do. And I'm gonna ask you to just pray this simple prayer with me.
Lord Jesus Christ, don't pass me by. I'm calling out to you. And I acknowledge I can't change my condition. But you can because you died on a cross and you broke the chains that want to bind me and the blindness that wants to keep me in bondage. I open my heart to you and as that man did, I come to you and I come willingly. I declare you to be the son of God who loves me, who died for me and wants to bring me home. I open my heart to you and I invite you into my life to be my Lord and my Savior. I believe tonight that you've heard my cry and I'm now a child of God. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. for a call to the nation with Carter Conlon.
