Do You Believe

Join me this morning in Matthew chapter number nine.

If you would find your place in the Word of God. Matthew chapter number nine. We begin in verse twenty seven. We're going to read down to verse number thirty four.

So much in this passage today and I trust that you will be blessed by what God's Word has. Matthew chapter nine verse twenty seven says, And when Jesus departed, then two blind men followed him crying and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was coming to the house, the blind men came to him and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I'm able to do this. They said unto him, Yea, Lord, then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. Eyes were opened and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame and all that country as they went out. Behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.

That's someone who was mute and would have been deaf as well. Verse thirty three. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake and the multitude marveled, saying it was never so seen in Israel.

But the Pharisees said he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. God, we thank you for your word today. What a joy to gather. We praise you for the beauty of creation. The wonderful season that we come through, and we are just so thankful for life. But above that, we thank you for eternal life. We rejoice for physical eyes, but we praise you for the spiritual eyes.

We thank you. You've given us ears, but oh, that our ears of our heart would be open to your word. I pray, God, that you would move in a powerful way in this service such as some would not even expect it. That you would draw hearts to you. You would send forth revival in the hearts of your people. You got to pray that in a day that is so dark in this world that we would shine as a light of the glory of God, that we would be a lighthouse, that they would see our works and glorify you in heaven.

For you are worthy. Let your word accomplish all your desire. And may souls be saved and lives change. We rejoice in the one who was saved just in the last hour.

Praise your name in Jesus name. And God's people said, Man, you may be seated this morning. The key in this passage that we're looking at this morning is found in verse number twenty eight.

When Jesus said, Believe you that I am able to do this. At the very center of the Christian faith is indeed just that. It is faith. It is believing. And the Bible teaches God has given to every man a measure of faith. And you may ask, What is faith? Well, faith is to our soul what our eyes are to our body. Faith demonstrates to the eye, the mind, the reality of those things.

It cannot be discerned by the eye of the flesh. Faith serves the spirit in the same way as our eyes serve our body. If you cannot physically see, you would be in the dark in a physical sense. In the same way, if you do not have spiritual understanding in sight, you will be in the dark spiritually. And let me say spiritual sight is much more important and more valuable than physical sight.

That's why Jesus said it's better to be blind on earth and go to heaven than have two good eyes and be thrown into hell. Hebrews 11 one defines faith as the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. God's word tells us that truth faith is not based upon empirical evidence.

It's not based upon something that you physically see. It's actually built on something more reliable, which is the very word of God. Romans 10 17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Faith is not attached to our rationale, our hopes. Rather, it is attached to the word of God.

It is the more sure word God has designed. The only way, friends, for us to come into a relationship with God is through this avenue of faith. By grace, we are saved. The Bible tells us through faith. It is through believing not with your eyes, but with the eyes of your soul. It is to hear the word of God, not simply with our physical ears, but with our spiritual ears. The Lord is asking today, do you believe him?

Do you believe him? John 3 16 tells us that salvation comes to those who believe they are the ones who have everlasting life. And it says in verse 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jesus warned the people of his day in John 8 24.

He says, I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. In this text before us, God's word continues to display the unmatched power of Christ to do miracles. And you need to understand that this display of Christ's miracles over Chapter eight and nine is a precursor to Christ, who will eradicate sickness and disease and illness and all of those things during the millennial kingdom. If I could step into eschatology for just a moment, which is simply the biblical teaching of end times, the next thing on God's timetable that is going to happen is what's known as the rapture of the church, the catching away of the church that could happen at any time. There's no prophecy left that needs to be fulfilled for the rapture to happen. We are seeing the world being set up perfectly as the Bible said it would be for the end times. We are seeing the world going to come together.

The Bible tells us under the rulership of a one world ruler, a one world system, a one world currency, a microchip system where you buy and sell by having something in your hand or forehead. And we see that scanning process. That technology has already been implemented in many places around the world. Facial recognition as well. You know, in five years, they say I will overtake 25 percent of jobs.

That's insane. You just need to know today in five years from now, you will live in a world that is totally different than what you know right now. It will not be the same world.

Twenty five percent of jobs will be run by A.I. We are moving in a fast pace, a pace that is. Has it really an existential threat, even if you didn't even put God into the mix. But God will intervene. There will be a rapture of the church.

The church will be taken out. And the Bible tells us there will be a seven year tribulation period that comes to this earth. It is the 70th week of Daniel. And I don't have time to explain all that out of Daniel Chapter nine and 10.

But that last seven weeks will be fulfilled during that time. And there's two reasons for this seven year tribulation period. That is the you read about it in Romans Chapter six to Romans Chapter 18.

That's what all of that's what's going on there. God will bring that seven year tribulation for two primary reasons. One is to bring salvation to the Jewish people. This is the fulfillment of Romans 11, that all the Jews shall be saved. They will turn to their Messiah.

They will weep over him and they will believe on him. The second thing that will happen is not only the salvation of the Jewish people, but there will be the judgment of the earth. God will judge the world during that time. Jesus said there will be tribulation in those days such as the world has never seen.

No, nor shall ever see. And unless those days be shortened, there would no one even be left to breathe. There will be so much so much death and sickness. The Antichrist will come who will make Hitler look like a Sunday school teacher.

There will be serious illnesses that make covid virus looking like something you would want to have compared to what's going to be in that day. And so that's coming. That's going to happen. But we're not going to be here. If you're saved, you will be raptured out of that. And God's people said, Amen. But during that, after the seven year tribulation will be what's known as the Battle of Armageddon. That's in Revelation Chapter number 19.

You can read about that. Jesus will come down after the Battle of Armageddon. Satan will be bound for a thousand years. During that thousand years, there's going to be a thousand year millennial reign of Christ on this earth that we live on. This spoken of Ezekiel, Isaiah, just read Jeremiah, Isaiah chapter, the last 10 chapters of Isaiah. This is spoken of at least six times, specifically a thousand year reign of Christ in Revelation Chapter 20, verse one through seven.

After that, there's a battle called the Battle of Gog and Magog. Satan's released for a little time, and then there'll be the great white throne judgment. Satan is cast into the lake of fire.

There will be at that great white throne judgment, every lost person will be cast into the lake of fire. And then God in a moment will dissolve the universe. The Bible says everything that you see will be dissolved like a total nuclear devastation of everything that is in the created world. Just as he spoke ex nihilo, everything into existence out of nothing, so he will speak everything out of existence. And then he will create a new heaven and a new earth in which will dwell righteousness. There will be no more death, sorrow, pain, former things are passed away. He said, behold, I make all things new.

And what a day that's going to be. And so we know that Jesus is going to set his kingdom up and eradicate sickness and death, disease and all of that, because he did it when he came the first time. And he and we got a preview of his power. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 35 five, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. This was a messianic declaration that when the Messiah comes, he would have the power to do that. Isaiah 42 seven says to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison and from them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

But you need to understand this. The physical healing was actually the lesser healing. It was temporary and the real healing that Jesus came to bring to the people of his day and hours right now, the physical healing one day will be permanent. He came to bring healing to our spiritual eyes. Better to have eyes you can see spiritually with than to have physical eyes. And the prison that he was going to let them out of is the prison of sin and eternal judgment. Now, today, you need to understand there is a message that transcends the message of the physical healing here.

There's more to the story than just two blind men being healed. There is an eternal truth that God wants you to see if you have eyes to see and ears to hear today. So my question is, do you believe?

Do you believe? And it starts with the desperate pursuit of the believers. It's found in verse twenty seven. It says that when Jesus departed thence. He departed from Jairus's house.

Two blind men followed. Now, if you were not here last Sunday, we saw in the previous passages that Jesus went to the Ark synagogue cases house. The the chief ruler of the synagogue, who who he had a daughter 12 years old, his only daughter that was dying. Jesus went to her home while on the way he healed a woman who had a blood disease of 12 years. And then he raises back to life Jairus's daughter, who had been dead. And she came back to life. Now, these men very likely had heard of Jesus, but they could not see it does not say they could not hear.

And with the absence of one of your senses, it only heightens the acuteness of your other senses. So they would have been very good at hearing what was going on. They would have heard that this Jairus's daughter had died.

That it's too late. But Jesus came and raised her back to life and they would have heard that. And they must have thought, if Jesus can raise the dead to life, surely he can raise our eyes to see. Though blind, they pursued, though hindered, they sought the Lord.

And why did they pursue? Well, because their condition was so pitiful. They had a condition that they were not able to fix. They were left in a destitute situation. Now, blindness today is obviously a tragedy, but in those days it was even intensified. Eyesight must be the worst sense to lose. It was such an issue in their day, babies were born blind due to different infectious diseases that could be transmitted easily to the baby from the mother.

Blowing of sand, accidents, fights, many different things that went on. And the blind in those days were reduced to being beggars because they could not work. They had to beg for a living. Another tragedy in that culture was they saw blindness as a strike of God against those people for some sin they must have committed. In John chapter 9, Jesus heals a man born blind and they ask the question, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

That was their mindset. These two blind men were poor beggars who were even looked down upon by the society. They were looked as sinners because of their condition and only a little bit better than the tax collectors of the day. So they weren't people who were given mercy by their society very much. And it says that two blind men followed him.

You know, it's said that misery loves company. And most likely they always had another blind person with them because that may have been the only other person that had such compassion with them. But also it would have been the ability to help one another. They would have begged alongside each other, aided one another. And it seems their desperation joined them in life and now it joined them in their pursuit of Christ. Verse 27 says they were crying and saying, thou son of David, have mercy. The word cry is an interesting word.

It's krodzo. It's an onomatopoeic word which is basically like the word buzz. You make the sound of what it, you spell it like it sounds. So this was an inarticulate cry. It was a scream and shriek. It was a word actually used to define like the sound of a raven crying out.

It was a word used when the demoniac of Gadara saw Jesus. The demon-possessed people shrieked. They krodzoed.

When Peter was sinking in water, he krodzoed. He cried out to the Lord in an unintelligible silence, screaming out for help. But in the situation of the demon-possessed men of Gadara and Peter, they cried out out of terror. But these men are crying out out of sheer desire. They longed for Jesus. They must have heard him leave the house, but they were like, don't leave.

And they were screaming out. And it says not only were they screaming, but they were saying, thou Son of David, have mercy on us. Now why the title Son of David? Among the Jews, you need to understand that that is a messianic title. When I say messianic, the word Messiah is the Hebrew word from the Hebrew word Messiah, which is the anointed one.

It's the equivalent to the Greek word Christ or Christos. And it's saying that you are the anointed of God, the promised deliverer. And so he says, thou Son of David. Now God had promised David in the Old Testament, the great king of Israel, that he would give him a kingdom and throne forever. 2 Samuel 7 verse 16 says this. In thine house, God tells David, in thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever.

When the angel Gabriel described baby Jesus to Mary, he said to her in Luke 1 32. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob. How long?

Forever. And as of his kingdom and of his kingdom, there shall be no end. Remember at the census, Joseph and Mary returned to Bethlehem because they were, it says in Luke 2 4, of the house and lineage of David. When Matthew opens up his gospel, he starts with the genealogy of Jesus. And Matthew wrote the gospel to show that Jesus is in fact the king of the Jews, the Messiah. And so Matthew 1 1 starts by saying the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David. Remember when Jesus entered into Jerusalem the last week of his life, they were crying out saying Hosanna to the son of David in Matthew 21 9. In Revelation 5, when they could not find one worthy to open the scroll to judge the world, the title deed of the world, John said I began to weep and the angel said to him in Revelation 5 5, one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals. Jesus even refers to himself in the last chapter of Revelations in verse 16. He said, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.

I am the root and the offspring of David, the bride and morning star. So you need to understand when you call Jesus the son of David, it is equivalent to calling him the Messiah, the Christ of God, the anointed one. Now, many were interested in that day in Jesus of Nazareth.

The crowds were not declaring Jesus as Messiah. But what's interesting, these blind men were. They were able to see with their spirit what others could not see with their eyes.

Spurgeon says, Our Lord is here called by his royal name, thou son of David. Even the blind could see that he was a king's son. Their faith didn't need empirical evidence. They could see with their heart what man could not see with their eyes.

This is Hebrews 11 one. Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. As I said before, better to have spiritual sight than physical sight.

Better to be impaired physically than spiritually. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 5 29, if thy right hand offend thee, if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it's profitable for thee one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body should be cast into hell. Not only did they have the right faith here, but they had the right heart and spirit. Notice what they say in verse 27. They were crying, saying, Thou son of David, have what? Mercy. Have mercy on us.

It's a very interesting statement. Why not just say, Jesus, thou son of David, heal me. Thou son of David, bring eyesight. Do good to me. I'm a good person. I don't deserve to be blind.

Why would you let me be blind and live like this? Heal me. But instead of lifting up their worth, they actually lift up their unworthiness. To ask for mercy, you need to understand, is to ask for something you don't deserve. They're literally saying, Help me not based on my goodness, but help me based on your goodness. This is how the godly man Daniel prayed after 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Daniel, Chapter nine, verse 18, he said, Oh, my God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the city which is called by thy name. For we do not present our supplications or prayers before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.

Daniel understood 70 years in captivity did not give him the right to accuse God or demand, demand deliverance. They could only come to God based on God's mercy. You need to understand today, salvation with God is never attained by something you and I do. It's based on God's mercy. Titus three five tells us not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.

If you want to activate the great work of God in your life, then you need to understand there is nothing good that you and I can offer God. God saves us based on his own gracious mercy and goodness. It was the humble publican that Jesus said who beat upon his chest, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner that went home justified rather than the self righteous publican.

They came to not only the with the right spirit, but they came to the right person. Jesus is literally the most gracious and merciful person to ever live on earth. He showed mercy to the demon possessed men of Gadara. He showed mercy to Levi, who was the worst man in Capernaum, saved Levi and Levi had a surname, which was Matthew.

And Matthew, who wrote this gospel, was the worst man in Capernaum. And Jesus saved him and took him from being a sinful publican to being a saint and child of God who wrote the scriptures. God is the most merciful God we could ever have imagined. Even in the New Testament, you have a guy who killed Christians named Saul, who God saves. And Saul, after he gives his testimony, says, I obtained mercy of the Lord in First Timothy, Chapter one. I don't know what your situation is today, friend, but you need to understand that you and I have a merciful God in heaven who is long suffering, who is patient and kind, that if you were to come to him today, no matter your situation and seek his mercy, seek his forgiveness, not based on your worthiness, not based on something you've done, not accusing God of any injustice, but just coming and humbling yourself before him. He would show you mercy. Cry out to him, krodzo, cry out to him, God, be merciful to me. Hebrews 812, God says, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities.

Will I remember no more? Verse twenty eight goes on and says, And when he or Jesus was coming to the house. Likely Peter's house for the evening, says the blind men came to him. I do find it interesting that Jesus causes these blind men to follow him for some length of time.

You know, in the previous story in verse eighteen through twenty six, it said that Jesus had gone to the house of Jairus because Jairus asked him to. But these blind men are crying after Jesus and Jesus keeps walking away from them. You know, I think sometimes in life the Lord will come to us and we can feel his presence so close and near. At other times, we seem to be crying out and wondering if the Lord even hears us. And I know you if you've been saved for a while, you know what I'm talking about.

So what's the difference? Well, I believe God wants to test our faith. Because if you could always feel God near you, you would need faith. But when you don't feel his nearness, it causes you to pursue him. And the pursuit is done by faith, not feelings. I believe God wants to test our faith, and I believe he wants to see the measure of our faith by the measure of our pursuit.

He wants to see the measure of your faith by the measure of how much you pursue him. Psalms 40, verse one, David said, I waited patiently for the Lord. I'm waiting for the Lord patiently. And he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and establish my goings. He put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. David here is.

In such a terrible situation, he defines it as a horrible pit. And he has cried unto the Lord, who seems to be delayed in his response to David. David, therefore, said, I waited patiently for the Lord. The delayed answers of the Lord, you need to understand, are not out of indifference. But out of purpose, it is in the Lord's infinite wisdom that the Lord sees friends that there can be more benefit from the delay at times than the immediate responses. It's why God allowed Paul to cry out not once, not twice, but three times for the thorn to be removed.

Why didn't you just answer the first time? Because there was more benefit in the delay than the immediate answer. He wanted Paul to learn that his grace is sufficient. And one reason God delays. His answers to us are to produce humility in our life.

You know, desperation, birth dependency, when you get desperate enough, you become very dependent and dependency, birth humility. Therefore, the Lord may see fit to delay an answer to produce the greater gift of humility. You're in a terrible situation, a tough situation, something you've prayed about, but feel distant from God or that God's not listening. You need to learn to wait and you need to learn to wait patiently upon the Lord. For in due time, he will hear you. He will bring you out of that horrible pit and set your feet upon a rock and establish you're going. People even put a song in your mouth, but it's in his time.

There is purpose in the delay. Jesus is walking away from the blind men to see if they have faith to continue their pursuit. He's walking away from blind people crying out to him. I thought you were loving Jesus. I mean, what kind of God is that? These are blind beggars.

Are they not good enough? So you go to the house of Jairus, but you walk away from the blind. You need to understand that Jesus walking away from them was one of the best things he could do for them. He wanted to see if they had faith enough to pursue him. To believe enough to follow Christ when it's not easy, when it's not comfortable, when it's not convenient. How many souls have been lost because they want a convenient faith? If you were blind, would you walk 100 yards or 200 yards or a mile across town to be healed by Jesus?

You would say, well, yes, and the only way you would travel is if you really believed he could do it. I mean, sometimes he would speak the word and heal somebody, and then there was times where he'd make mud and put it on a guy's eyes and says, go and wash in the pool of Siloam and come back and you'll be able to see. What is that? What is that?

Miracle mud? Why are you doing this? I've been to the pool of Siloam.

I've been at the exact place. It's a steep decline. It's not easy. The blind guy could have said, you know what? Forget this guy.

Put mud on my face. You're not going to heal me. The only way he would do it, the only way he would do that is if you believe the words of Jesus. Are you willing to make yourself uncomfortable or does Jesus have to be the all too comfortable Jesus for you? Sometimes he walks away from us to see if we believe enough to pursue. There are some people who say, I'd believe if I saw him. No, you would not.

You would stay in your blindness. He would not give you that gift of faith because you need empirical evidence. He has chosen through his own sovereign purposes and glory to cause people to believe in him only through the sight of their eyes spiritually, not through their eyes physically. Question is, do you believe? You don't, you would never have followed him across town. Secondly, we see the merciful response of the Lord in verse 28.

And he was coming to the house. The blind men came to him and Jesus saith unto them, believe ye that I'm able to do this. The word believe he is pisto. It's from a very from the word pistos in the Greek, which means faith. Do you believe? Believe and faith are really synonymous. It's the idea of true and genuine. You entrust yourself to someone.

This is pisto. Now, why does Jesus even ask this? I mean, it seems kind of odd. You're asking, do you believe that you could do this? I mean, we followed you across town. We called you the son of David. Why are you asking this? You need to know this truth. Jesus has never and will never ask a question for his own benefit. God doesn't ask questions to learn something. He's not like, I wonder if you really believe this or not.

Let me ask you a couple questions. It's like when God says in the garden, Adam, where art thou? Was he like, there's a gap in my omniscience. I can't, you know, I can see everything in the cosmos. I just don't know where you are.

Where did you go? This is not God. He doesn't ask for his benefit, he asks for our benefit. He's trying to expose something on the inside.

So why is he asked this? The Lord asked this to these guys to draw a more complete and public confession from them. This is Romans 10 9, isn't it?

Isn't it? What's Romans 10 9? It's that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be say for the heart man believeth under righteousness with a mouth confession is made into salvation verse 13. Let's all read that together for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be.

Yeah, yeah. You confess Christ is Lord thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Do you believe that I'm able to do this and they respond by saying yay, Lord. Yes, Lord. You know, the prayer of salvation doesn't have to be long.

It just needs to be real. Remember me in your kingdom, Lord. People ask me sometimes I'll go through the gospel with them and I say, do you want to be saved today? They're like, yes. You recognize you're a sinner? Yes. You believe Jesus died on the crossroads from the game?

Yes. Well, then why don't you call out to him and ask him to save you? I don't really know what to pray. Question. You're drowning in the middle of the Pacific. And there is a helicopter over top of you.

Do you have to be told what you need to say to get their attention? What would you ask them? You would cry out, save me. If you're ever here, I am drowning. Save me.

You're not like, hey, I'm not quite sure what to communicate. Can you tell God what you want him to do? God, I need salvation. I need you to save me. Save me. That's what you do. Well, you didn't pray these 14 other words.

There is no 14 other words. Yea, Lord. They declared publicly Jesus is Lord. And in fact, they they confess he is Lord before they're healed.

They didn't say, hey, heal us and then we'll maybe believe in you. Pull it off first and then we'll confess you as our Lord. No, they said you are Lord. I don't have to see you with my eyes.

I've heard you with my ears and my soul has been awakened. I can see better than the men around me now. Do you understand what Jesus is actually teaching here? You think this is about two blind people. Is that what you thought? You thought this was about two blind people getting physical sight?

You think that's what the story is limited to? This is Romans 10 17. This is faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Compare these men with Thomas. Compare these men with John 20. But Thomas, one of the 12 called Denimos, was not with them when Jesus came. Jesus shows up after his resurrection, shows himself to all the disciples.

Thomas wasn't in the room. Verse 25, the other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand inside, I will not believe.

Why? Because Jesus telling us he was going to rise from the dead is not enough. I have to see it. Oh, you didn't know, Thomas, without faith you cannot please him. That without faith you cannot be saved. Verse 26, and after eight days again the disciples were within. This is eight days later, Thomas is with them now. Then came Jesus, the door's being shut, and he just shows up in the room. You want to see something now, Peter, Thomas?

You want to see something now? Verse 27, Then saith he, Jesus says to Thomas, Reach out of thy finger, and behold my hand, and reach out of thy hand, and thrust into my sight. Be not faithless, but believing.

Don't be opisthous, but be pestuo. Don't be non-believing, but be believing. And by the way, Jesus heard the conversation the week before when he wasn't even there.

And the first thing he does is he's like, I'm expelling doubt from the room. And you know what Thomas does in verse 28? Thomas answered and said, My Lord and my God.

Jesus is Lord and God. Verse 29, Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you've seen me, you believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe.

You needed empirical evidence. What a tragedy for you. Sorry for you, Thomas. You needed to see me.

Blessed are they who believe what I have to say. That's us. That's us. That's you.

That's you. Why are you here this morning? You ever seen Jesus rise from the dead? Don't tell me you have.

Don't tell me how you woke up one night and Jesus standing in your room. I don't need to hear that after church, okay? Please keep that to yourself. And don't let my conversation right now encourage you to tell me even more.

I don't even want to hear it. You have not seen that. Did you know where you have seen it? You've seen it here. You've seen it here, haven't you?

And because you've seen it here, you've seen it here. I don't have to see him physically rise. I know he rose because it says it.

And this is more sure than if I could see something because my eyes could deceive me. You know the rich man in hell thought a miracle was more powerful than the word of God in Luke 16? The man in hell says this in Luke 16, 27. He's talking to Abraham. He says, Father Abraham, he says, I pray thee, Father, that thou would send him to my father's house. Send Lazarus back from the dead. Resurrect Lazarus.

Let him go back. I have five brethren that he may testify to them lest they come to this place of torment. You know how Abraham responds to the man in hell? Verse 29 and Abraham saving him. They have Moses and the prophets.

What's that? Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible and the prophets is the word of God. Let them hear them. And he said, nay, Father Abraham. But if one went under them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead. Don't take evangelistic instructions from people in hell. He said more power. You need to hear me more powerful than somebody rising from the dead and seeing that this morning is seeing that truth of the scriptures.

The Bible is the most powerful source on the planet. Why do you think we preach like this? Why do you think we go verse after verse? Why do you think when we start service, we're not going to have an hour long concert? We're going to come in and sit before the word of God and feast on this truth.

This is it. I would steal from you. I would rob you if I did something else. There are pastors that are thieves today because they're robbing from God's people spiritual vision so they can entice their physical ears and physical eyes. They're feeding their flesh. We didn't come today to get physically fed.

We came to get spiritually nourished. This is it. And if you can't see this, you're missing it.

You're missing it. Oh, you need a hand, right? You need to take your finger and stick it in his hand? Well, one day you're going to see that hand. One day you're going to see that resurrected Christ. Every knee will bow, the Bible says, and every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord. But only those who will be in eternal heavens with Him are the ones who confess it before they see it. He said, blessed are they who have not seen. So you're going to need a miracle, right?

You're going to need something like that. Remember on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24, what happens? You got two disciples who didn't believe Jesus rose from the dead after they were told he rose from the dead. Jesus bails himself, doesn't let them see him physically. Isn't that interesting? But he comes alongside and says, why are you guys so sad?

They're like, are you a stranger? Don't you know that we thought he was going to be the Messiah? He even said he was going to die and rise again. But you know, here's the third day.

Jesus literally talking to him. Here's the third day. You know, since it happened, it's just the third day. Well, there were some women that said that they saw him resurrected.

Oh, but they're just women. It's the third day. You know what Jesus does before he opened their eyes to show him it was him? He says, oh, fools and slow in heart to believe it's the word fools is morass.

It's where we get the English word more. Yeah, you know where we get. He says, you morons, you fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his glory? Don't you know what Psalms 22 says?

Have you never read that? Oh, we know Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd. You know what Psalms 22 is? That's the lamb of God who took away the sin of the world right there.

That starts out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's how that chapter starts. That's the chapter that says they pierced my hands and feet 400 years before crucifixion was ever invented on the planet. How did they know that? This is the chapter that says they parted my garments and cast lots for my vesture.

How did they know that? That's Psalms 22. Oh, didn't you ever read that?

Men on the road of Emmaus? Didn't you ever read Isaiah 53? Don't you know that? No, why?

Because you're so caught up with the flesh, right? You all need that miracle, right? Fools and slow of heart to believe. How many Christians are going to be rebuked by God and he says, how slow were you to believe?

How slow were you? Let's not be slow to believe. Let's take God's word and say, I believe this. I believe your word. I believe the truth of this book more than anything else in my life.

This is the greatest truth ever. You know that people say, I don't believe the Bible. I believe in evolution.

Oh, really? Love to have that conversation with you. So let me ask you a question. You believe in spontaneous generation? You believe that? You believe in the self-creation of the universe? They used to believe the static state theory, which was the universe was eternal. But then they found through the Hubble telescope in the 90s that the expansion rate of the universe tells us that there cannot be an eternal universe that had a definite beginning point. Therefore, if you don't believe in a God, a personal God who created, then there must be a self-creation, which self-creation would also mean that you would have to exist before you created yourself, right?

So that's an irrational impossibility. But yet people believe that. And so that's your science. That's what you believe, right?

How is that guy who's like 70 years old that taught you that? I'm going to take a book that was written over 3,500 years by 40 different authors on three different continents in three different languages, fits together like a hand in a glove, is the eternal word of God. I'll build my faith on that book, not on that 70-year-old guy over there that says that we came from nothing, created an orderly everything, and now that's what it is? You have your faith, I have mine. You have your religion, and I have mine.

I don't have enough faith to be an evolutionist. It's really, it's an amazing faith to me. I is startled by it. And so here it says that he touched their eyes. He comes to them, and he touches their eyes, and he says, according to your faith, be it unto you. You know, not all miracles are said to have required faith by the recipients. In fact, most of Jesus's miracles were done to those who it says nothing of the person's faith. You know, the dead people, Jesus rose back from the dead. They didn't say anything about their faith in Jesus.

They were dead. I mean, when he went to raise Lazarus from the dead in John 11, his sisters were like, if you were here, our brother would not have died. And he says, I am the resurrection in the life. The resurrection's not just simply some event.

You're looking at it. The power's here, friends. That's what he's saying, the power's in him. Christ is the resurrection. He is.

Jesus doesn't like just have life. He is life. He's the source. But at salvation, though all miracles don't require faith, salvation always requires faith from the recipients. You have to believe him.

You have to believe him. And he said in John 8, he said, unless you believe in me, said, you'll die in your sins. You will die in your sins. And in fact, if you don't believe the words of Christ in John 12 48, he says, he that rejects me and receives not my words has one that judges him. The word that I've spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

You don't believe me? He says this. This will be your judge. He says, for I have not spoken of myself, but the father which sent me gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Jesus isn't guessing here. He knows you want eternal life. You call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. There is no other way of salvation that right.

Verse 30. It says after he there's no fanfare here. There's no like everybody step back. We're going to heal today. I mean, there's none of this.

You know, he's not like the fake healers today. Verse 30 and their eyes were open. Boom.

No mud, none of that. They already did their walk of faith, and Jesus straightly charged them saying, and this is an interesting statement. He charged them saying, see that you tell no man. This is actually a very strong command, straightly charged. This is not like him saying, Hey, guys, make sure you don't tell anybody.

It literally straightly charges is a the verb is intensified here. It's like scorned them like you guys make sure you do not tell anyone about this. I mean, this is a strong command from Christ. This is a kind of tough, like the greatest thing in my life that's ever happened and I can't. I mean, some of us, he'd be like, you know, turn your social media off.

You will not be able to last five seconds. You know, Jesus healed them because he's merciful to them, not for the purpose of focusing everybody's attention on the miracle. And and it caused some problems for them to broadcast this. It would cause people to see Christ for their flesh and not their spirit. This happened throughout Jesus's life. They would come to Jesus for what they could gain temporarily and not eternally. When Jesus fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fishes, listen to what he says to them who came to him after that. John 6 27 he said, labor or work, not for the meat that perishes, but for the meat which endureth under everlasting life, which the son of man shall give you for him, the father God the father has sealed. Stop seeking physical food.

You'll die after that. Seek the spiritual eternal life. It also when when people go around and publicize his miracles, it caused massive crowds to gather around him to where he could not travel to city to city and preach the Gospel. Mark 1 45 says, And when he went out and but he went out this leopard that he healed and began to publish it much in a blaze abroad the matter and so much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city. Jesus also wanted people to have faith in his word, not some sensationalized miracles. Satan was wanting to Jesus to be sensational and Matthew four wasn't he says, Why don't you cast yourself off the temple and everybody will believe.

Be sensational. Jesus said in Matthew 16 for a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. The Jews believed also the Messiah would come and deliver them from Roman oppression and set his kingdom up. They did not understand the spiritual aspect of the kingdom. They did not understand that when the Messiah would come, he would be crucified, die and rise again.

The third day they were thinking about a physical deliver, not a spiritual. It's like, I don't want you to propagate all these miracles because people start thinking I'm just coming for the physical reason. This is a manifestation and a validation of my power and Messiah ship. But I came here to deliver you from sin. Like you want me to deliver you from Rome. Rome's nothing.

Rome won't even make me break a sweat. When they came out to take him the night in the garden, they said, we're seeking Jesus. He says, whom do you seek? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am ego Emmy and they all fell on their backs.

They all get up. He says, who do you seek? I mean, this is nothing for him, but you know what made him sweat and bleed and perspiration is taking the sin of the world. Friends, he didn't come to deliver us from some simple physical thing.

That's nothing. He came to save us from hell and damnation and eternal separation from God. That is the eternal work.

And they didn't get it. So he's like, you go spreading this message around, people are going to miss it. Think about in Matthew 16, first time Jesus told the disciples, he says, I'm going up to Jerusalem. We crucified the third day rise again. He had just told him, he says, don't tell anybody I'm the Messiah. I'm going to go up to Jerusalem and after he tells them that, Peter begins to rebuke Jesus.

Be it far from me, Lord, let not this happen. Peter, see, they didn't understand this spiritual reality of the work of Christ. That's why people will read sometimes like Matthew 9, 27 through 34 and you think it's just about two blind men, Jesus healed.

There's a whole lot more there than that. So how did the men respond? How did these guys respond to the command of Jesus?

Like don't go tell anybody. They did the same thing we would have done. They told everybody.

Verse 31, but they, when they were departed, spread abroad from fame and all the country. I imagine this is how that worked out. You know, hey, you know, we can't tell anybody, but I know it's just all right. They go out and people are like, oh, you guys, the blind people, it's, yeah, and you won't believe what happened.

I mean, we were following him and I mean, it just would have burst right out of them, right? It's like, this is impossible. It's too good to hold. I got to tell you, I got to tell you, you can't hold it back.

This is where they were. You know, it's, it's interesting because some, most of the time we think about sins, we think about things that are hurtful to people. God says, don't do that.

Like lying and stealing and you know, things that could cause it hurts other people. It's offensive to God and God says not to do that. And, but here he's saying, listen, I don't, there is a sin you will commit if you boast about the blessings of God on your life. So God has blessed you. He's done amazing work and you're not allowed to tell anybody if you do, it's wrong for you to do that.

That's wrong. In this situation it was, listen, I think it's a good thing for God's people to declare the blessings of God in your life, but there becomes a problem in our life when the blessings turn into boastings, they can become sinful. Even good things God has done in our life at times can be hurtful to others and they, and they also need to be refrained from sharing at times. Just understand that when God has poured out a mountaintop blessing in your life and you have a friend who's in a valley who's maybe in that horrible pit waiting on the Lord and you're like, God's doing this and man, he did that and he did this and this and this.

And they're over here in the pit waiting for like weeks, they're like, come on. And sometimes it can just devastate somebody because we get so focused on our blessing, we forget about their burdens. So just be careful of that. Praise God publicly for what he's done, but be discerning when you do. That's why I tell people sometimes going on social media and like people can highlight every good thing in their life and you're like, yeah, there's another story to that. Amen.

It can be a boastful setting. Look how wonder and hey, it's okay to praise the Lord, but Jesus says, don't tell anybody about this. Take some wisdom from that and then look at verse 32. Jesus heals this deaf guy and as they went out, behold, there brought him a dumb man possessed with the devil.

He's mute and would have been deaf. Here we see the unrelenting schedule of the Lord. One miracle of mercy, another just coming along.

There's no time to rest. This man was both hindered, hindered both spiritually and physically to spiritual malady of being demon possessed also included the inability to hear. Jesus cast the demon out, heals the guy and verse 33 it says, and when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake and the multitude marveled saying it was never so seen in Israel. Now not all physical impairments are because of some kind of a demon possession, but this specifically was, and that brings me to my third and final point as we wrap up. The tragic response of the spiritually blind and deaf. This is the tragic response of the spiritually blind and deaf. These are the ones that Jesus doesn't heal this day, but the Pharisee said he casts out devils to the prince of the devils. Now Jesus just healed a woman with an issue of blood 12 years, he raised back to life a dead 12 year old girl.

He heals two blind men, now a demon possessed guy who is mute. In response, the Pharisees could not deny the power of the miracles, but the miracles didn't create faith. They literally attribute to Satan what God was doing.

These are the leading religious people of their day calling the work of God the work of the devil. This day two blind men are healed, but many blind religious leaders stayed blind. So why not propagate miracles? Because miracles may open the eyes of the flesh, but they don't open the eyes of the spirit.

Just two chapters later from this, Matthew 11 verse 20, listen to what Jesus says, then began he to abrade the cities where most of his mighty works were done because they repented not where he did most of his miracles were a great majority of unbelievers remained. Because if they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe even if a miracle came. The only ones who will truly become followers of Christ are those who hear spiritually and see spiritually. That's why people who try to get people to believe through some, there is this miracle or this sign or this wonder.

That's not what's going to cause people to believe. Bring them to the gospel. Share with them John's gospel. Take them to the scriptures. Open their eyes with what Jesus opened their eyes with.

If you take them to something else, it's a lesser power and it seems that in this story God intentionally had these miracles back to back. I mean these Pharisees are like the two blind men who could now see they saw physically but didn't make a right response of obedience to Christ just as those guys were disobedient. These guys are disobedient and as a result, the Pharisees are like a demon possessed man who cannot hear and speak spiritual truth. They may have perfect vision now, but they have a wrong spirit dwelling inside of them. They have closed their ears to truth and their mouth is now void of speaking truth. This is what it is.

This is what this is about. This is, this is what Jesus talks about three chapters later. You can flip over to Matthew 13 if you want as we close with this passage, Matthew 13. Look at verse number nine. What do you think Jesus kept saying?

Saying this. He said this all the time. Verse nine. Who has ears to hear?

Let him hear you. These things talking about, hey, some of you guys don't have lobes, you know, you don't have ears, you know, sorry for you, but if you actually have ears, use them physically. It's not what he's talking about. He's saying if you have spiritual leaders, you need to start using that. You need to pay attention to what I'm saying.

Don't miss this. And in verse 10 it says, and his disciples came and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? He starts giving them parables in Matthew 13.

Look forward to getting to Matthew 13 here in a few months to go through those. Verse 11 and he answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Look what he says, but to them it's not given. So he is preaching parables to hide truth from some and to reveal it to others. The ones who had spiritual ears, he was given the more truth.

Those who did not and only had physical leaders, he kept them from the truth. They heard the parable physically, they just never got the spiritual understanding. It's like the person who sits in church week after week, they're like, I just don't get it. I just don't get it. I just don't get it. You know why you don't get it? I can tell you why you don't get it, may I?

You've not read his word this week, have you? You've not spent any time desiring him. You have lived your life and it will not be until God allows a desperate situation in your life to turn the heat up enough to make you realize how short your arms are to deliver yourself. So you begin to cry out and say, dear God, look at me and he may keep walking away from you until you're screaming out and he's going to see how much desire you have based on how much pursuit you have. And you'll get to the end of yourself and you'll say, now I hear, now I see.

Anybody have the ears? Do you know what I'm talking about? Raise your hand if you know exactly what I'm talking about.

He'll do that, won't he? You thankful for it? Yeah.

We don't like those seasons. I'm always like, God, let me learn every, let me be like a PhD going through it. Like Lord, I'm gonna learn everything I can take down all the notes because I don't want to sit inside of this pit too long. I will wait patiently on you. I know you're going to deliver me. It's hot in here. It's not easy.

I don't deserve even to get out, but let your mercy get me out of this. Dear God, let me learn everything I need. That's where it is.

That's what he's doing. He says, it's for you to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it's not given. Verse 13, Matthew 13, therefore speak I to them in parables because they sing. They don't see hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which sayeth by hearing you shall hear, shall not understand and seeing you shall see and not perceive. Notice what he says, for this people's heart, their inward heart is waxed gross. Their ears are dull of hearing their eyes.

They have closed, and they're not walking around with their eyes physically closed. This is all spiritual. Just that any time they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, should understand with their heart and should be converted, and then I would heal them, and it's not a physical thing, it's a spiritual thing. Don't propagate my physical miracle power. That is not where the greatest gift is. They'll come for me for the lesser gains.

So much more that he has for us. Oh, you thought it was just about a book this morning? You thought it was about a building? Do you understand the eternal work that is going on? It doesn't happen at Walmart, it doesn't happen at Lowe's, it doesn't happen at Bob Evans, it doesn't happen in any of those restaurants.

It were to happen anywhere, being probably Rooster's Wings, but it's not happening in any of those places. I am sorry I shouldn't have said it. But I can tell you the way the spiritual work of God happens, and it's through the word of his book, it's the word of God. It's in his church. You take this truth and you grab a hold of it and you love it more than your necessary bread and you don't, when somebody asks you, have you read today? It's like, have I breathed even today?

How could I have not? You spent time in the word, what did God teach you this week? Lord, if I don't desire your word, then let it be your grace to make me desperate. Make me desperate. You know, that's my prayer for us today. God let us become those who face enough desperation, you know where the highest attendance is in America was after 9-11. Richardson is just shot up, rocketed up.

About three months later, it dropped all the way back down. Desperation creates pursuit. And he closes Matthew 16, he says, but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear.

You want to be blessed, then you take this book and you realize this is the greatest treasure on the planet and you come and say, Jesus, I don't need a miracle. I don't need you to show me anything physically. You said it. That is enough.

You said it. It is enough. I don't need anything else. Please don't show me any other physical things.

I don't need any physical things. You said it. It's enough. I believe this. This is all I need.

This is what we build on, isn't it? So in life, I'm going to tell you something. There's going to be some hardships in your life. You go to Psalms 40, you cry out to the Lord and he's going to say, I hear you. I hear you.

There's a little more carving, a little more humility needs produced. If I deliver you too quick, you may forget me. I hear you.

Okay, now it's time. This is what the Lord does for us and he will put a new song in your mouth, even praise to God, and you'll find yourself not sitting in church for two weeks, but you'll find yourself sitting in church for years. You'll find yourself pursuing the word of God because you don't want to go back to that pit. You don't want to go back to the pit of sin and evil and wickedness. You say, does God hurt people if they don't follow him?

No, no, no. You're going down a path that will hurt you if you don't follow him and he will let you fall into some physical pain so that you don't go into the eternal pain. Better to be hurt physically than to be hurt spiritually and he's not the one that hurts you. He just allows that to happen because you're on a road without his presence and so today why don't you come? If you're not saved, men and women stand at the front.

You can come today. Trust in Christ. If you are saved today, love this word and pursue him with all of your heart. We serve a merciful God, whatever your need is. He's here to hear you.

It's all staying this morning. Father, we thank you for your word today. Oh God, you're so good to us. Lord and as we come to this time, we sure don't want to be just hearers.

We want to be those who both hear and do and obey the word of God. God, I thank you for the faithfulness of people here today. Lord, I pray that you would be with those who are going through some heavy seasons.

Life presents. I pray that you would give us courage and faith when it feels like you're walking away. You're not doing it because you're ignoring us. You're doing it because you love us, that we would pursue you, long for you. Thank you for being near like you were with Jairus, that you come to our homes and you love us and you care for us as a tender father. Lord, if anyone today doesn't know you as their savior, may today be the day of salvation. I pray that you would grant grace for the journey. Thank you for being the Lamb of God who died in Psalms 22 so that you could be the good shepherd that walks with us in Psalms 23 because you are the King of glory coming in Psalms 24 and we look forward to your coming, oh Lord Jesus, even so come, in Jesus' name.