Believing Is Seeing

You've probably heard the saying, Seeing is believing. Suggest that the only way to be truly convinced of something is to see concrete evidence.

Well, today on Truth for Life we'll find out why when it comes to spiritual matters. Believing is seeing. Alastair Begg is teaching from Luke chapter 18. We're focusing on verse 31. It is as the time draws very close for him to arrive in Jerusalem that Jesus does here, Luke tells us, as he's done on a number of occasions before.

Take his disciples, as it were, offline and privately give to them a word of explanation concerning what is going to take place when he goes up to Jerusalem. And that's why Luke records his words: We're going up to Jerusalem, verse 31. Of course, they knew that, they were making their way. The Passover was drawing near. The crowds were beginning to gather.

And when we go up there, he said, everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

Now, to Isaiah 53, I need hardly turn to it for many of you, but simply for those for whom this is new material. To give a start here in understanding what Luke is making reference to. He was despised, verse 3, and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised And we esteemed him not. Verse 5: He was pure.

pierced For our transgressions. You remember they came and they broke the legs of the thief on either side of Christ, but when they came to Christ, they merely pierced his side with a spear. He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment That brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds. We are healed.

So Jesus Speaking to these men whom he loves and with whom he is spending all of this time, he says, I want you to understand that the cruel scenes that we are about to undergo. When I am mocked and when I am insulted, When the people spit on me, when I am flogged, and when I am finally killed, know this. That this will be in fulfillment of all that the prophets have written concerning me. And remember, this will not be the end of the story, because on the third day I will rise again. The Son of Man will rise again.

But Luke is honest enough to let us know that the disciples didn't get it.

Now the very fact that they had such a difficult time grasping what he was saying actually came to work out for their good. Because we know, don't we, that in all things God for the works for the good of those who love Him, that their very misunderstanding and difficulty at this point would serve to anchor these notions in their minds. In the same way that things that we may have difficulty grappling with, the very fact that we have difficulty with them means that they are registered in a file somewhere, a kind of, we must come back to that file. I need to figure that out somehow or another. I'm not sure how this and this and this and this fits.

Well, that's how they were.

So that finally When the penny dropped Finally, when the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place, Then they would be able on that occasion To recognize that when Jesus died, He did not die as a result of unavoidable and unfortunate circumstances that just swept him and overwhelmed him. But rather than they would realize that he had not been overwhelmed by suffering and death, he had gone resolutely to the cross, and all that had taken place had taken place in fulfillment of what the prophets had written.

Now go forward to Acts chapter 2. It's only when their eyes were open that they recognized him. And when their eyes were opened and they recognized him, And suddenly, They began to put it together. Luke 18, they're unable to get it. Luke 24, when their eyes are open, they get it.

And now on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, Peter gets up to preach. And by now he's got it all systematically put together.

Now, the reason I delay on this is because this is of phenomenal importance.

Some of you don't understand, like the disciples in Luke 18. You say, it doesn't seem that important to me.

Well, may God open your eyes so you understand just how important it is. Listen. The suffering and death of Jesus. for our sins. was not something that was contrived in time.

as it were to correct a defect in the system. That somehow or another God had made the world and then it took him by surprise that man turned his back on him and went his own way. And then, in response to this surprising incident, God, if you like, had somehow or another to conceive of a plan within the framework of time to rectify the predicament that was now before men and women. No. Absolutely not.

What we discover is that from eternity The plan of redemption. The covenant of redemption, if you like. Between the Father and the Son. Establish the fact. that the Father would give his Son as the outcome of his everlasting love.

And that the Son, in obedience to the Father, Would voluntarily give himself as the propitiation for our sins.

So that is why his language fits so perfectly. Father, in John 17, I have finished the work that you gave me to do. That is why one of his cries from the cross in one Greek word, tetalestai, is so dynamic. He is crying out, it is finished. What is finished?

The work of redemption. A full and a final atonement. And it is this which Luke is recording and pointing forward to as these disciples wrestle with it.

So here, if you're a believer this morning, understand this. And this is not something that ought to make you feel good about yourself, but this is something that ought to make you marvel at the grace of God. that in eternity The father planned. that you would be his child. That in time Christ the Son died to procure the salvation that the Father planned.

And today, the Holy Spirit applies that truth by giving Himself as the very deposit, as a guarantee of what is to come.

So, any notion. that appeals to our ego. To make us feel good about ourselves as we look upon the cross, and that we can feel good about ourselves, that He realized how wonderful we were, that He would go to that extent for us. It is the absolute antithesis of that, my dear friends. It is that our condition was so ugly, so messed up, so vile.

That only In the exercise of this covenant of redemption, in the expression of the covenant of grace. Could we enter into its benefits?

Now there is that little paragraph and we must go on.

So with his disciples. aware of the dimness of their sight. They bump into a man. who's completely blind. They just couldn't see it.

And Luke says. Let me introduce you to somebody else who just couldn't see it. And here. In this little incident, we see again what we've noted before: that Jesus calls those who are least and who are last and who are left out. And I love this and you should too.

That's why some of us have never heard the call of Christ because we believe ourselves. to be the most. to be the first. And to be on the inside track. After all, we're religious, after all, we attend, after all, we do our best.

After all, he knows That's why the work of the Word of God is to bring the law of God before us to show us we're totally up the creek. And then when we are gripped by the fact that I am actually the least. likely person that God would ever save. Because I am so proud.

So self-assured. That I am actually last on the list. That I'm actually on the outside looking in. When we come to that amazing awareness, then the good news of the gospel, you see, comes along to the least and the last and the left out and says, come here.

So the pilgrims are going up. The Passover is looming. There's all kinds of expectation in the air. There's all kinds of animated conversation filling the environs of this blind man at the entry to Jericho. His condition is clear, he's blind and he's a beggar.

He sits alone. He is essentially an unproductive member of society. He is forced to rely on the generosity of others. He may actually be placed there by his family members who see him as some kind of sordid mechanism for supplementing their own earthly income. Were it not for the place given to almsgiving in the Jewish mindset, this marginalized life would have been short-lived.

But as a result of the Jew's commitment to give to the poor, he was able to sustain at least this sorry existence. He's aware that there's a buzz. He asks the crowd, what's the buzz? What's happening? He doesn't know what's causing it and so when he discovers that Jesus is passing by.

He calls out. Oh, yes, he calls out verse 38: Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Now, by his use of this terminology. It's clear that he possesses an insight that others may never have expected. Because what he's doing is he's calling out to the Savior, he's calling out to the Messiah, Son of David, is a messianic title.

So this man is listening. And presumably he listens. As people have conversations. It is at least possible, this is conjecture. That he would be made keenly aware of who Jesus was as a result of the conversations that he had heard people.

Having me. Perhaps he had listened in on a conversation as a result of some who had been present in the synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus had read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. And he listened, as people said, you know, the amazing thing was not so much the passage from which he read, but the amazing thing was that after he read the passage, he sat down and listened to what he said. And of course, he's listening. He said Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

What's scripture? He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. and recovery of sight. For the blind.

Now who like a blind man is going to jump on this. Here he sits, a picture of marginalized helplessness. Every day it's always the same. There he sits the same spot with the same lousy bull, dealing with the same dreadful circumstances. And the conversation and the chatter as the pilgrim's head towards the Passover is such that he has said to himself.

I'm telling myself something. He's talking to himself. I can see him now. He said, if this Jesus of Nazareth. ever comes within spitting distance of me, I'm just gonna shout out.

And what did he shout out? Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And how did the crowd respond?

Well, they rebuked him. They said, Hold your tongue. They turn around and say, This is no time for a confrontation, especially with you. We don't need to get Jesus tied up here at the moment. What can you contribute to what Jesus is doing?

You contribute nothing. Exactly. Don't miss that. See, haven't we been discovering as we've gone along that it's the people who believe they're contributing a great deal? That Jesus has no time for.

But the people who say, I got nothing to contribute, Jesus says, come here, I want to talk to you. Get out of here, they say. They rebuke him, they order him to be quiet. But instead of withering away, instead of retreating to his bowl, instead of grabbing his blankets or his cloak around him and withdrawing into himself, their attempts at intimidation just serve to draw it out of him all the more. You can imagine him saying, you know, second verse, the same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse.

Son of David, have mercy on me. And he cried out all the more. And they must have looked at one another and said, this is a fiasco. Look at this. And then how embarrassed.

When Jesus Says to them, Call him. I want to talk to him. Oh no. No, we just told them, shut up. We told them you're out of it.

We told them you're not in the thing here. This isn't for people like you. This is for the inn crowd, the Jerusalem gang. We're on our way. We can't be stopping every time some blind beggar shouts out.

Jesus said, go and call him. And so they turn and they say, Jesus says, cheer up. On your feet, he's calling you. And Jesus says, say it again and say it with a smile this time, okay? He didn't say that I made that up.

But the fact of the matter is, this is a dramatic turnaround. from hold your tongue to cheer up on your feet he's calling you. What a rebuke it is, my dear Christian friends, when in our self-centered preoccupation with our religious exercises, we find that we are saying the same thing to the marginalized, and Christ comes to us and wraps us on the back of the head and says, Listen, I've had enough of your nonsense. I came for the likes of those. You go to them and tell them, Cheer up on your feet.

I want to talk to them. Jesus wants to talk to people that we ourselves are happy to pass in the street. Jesus came for the least and for the last and for the left outs. He didn't come for the high school quarterback. He didn't come for Miss America.

He didn't come for the intelligentsia.

Now that he cannot come. But the only way they can come is not on the basis of the fact that they are, I'm sure you'd like to meet me, Jesus. I'm well respected in the high school. No, I couldn't care less. But when you know that you're the least, the last and the left out, I'll have a conversation with you.

I I'm sorry, I I'm certainly not that.

Okay, well I'll talk with you later.

Now let's go over here to these kids that are hanging around by the lockers. Uh that looked like death warmed up. They've apparently marginalized themselves and they like this. And they feel somehow or another that organized religion is a sham and a mockery and a bunch of junk. And with justifiable reason in many cases, Jesus says, Now, I would like you to get down in the lockers there, and I want you to talk to these guys.

Cheer up on your feet. Oh, how ridiculous they must have felt. But how quick was his reply? They brought him to him, and when he came near, Jesus asked him, What do you want me to do for you? Look at his replies, five words in English.

Punchy, isn't it? Lord, I want to see. The very brevity of it suggests his preparedness, doesn't it? There's no sense in which he said Well, mm.

Now, I'm glad that you asked. Perhaps we could sit down together. I have a number of. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He knew exactly what he needed.

Do you? You see, when you come to Christ, you don't need to come to him with a big long speech. See, when the Bible shows you that you are spiritually blind, what do you need? You need to see? What else is there to say?

When the Bible shows you that you are spiritually trapped, What do you need? Freedom. What do you need to say? Lord, set me free. When the Bible tells you that you're overwhelmed by burdens, by doubt, and by discouragement, by grief, and by sin, what do you need?

You need Christ to come and bear that.

So, what do you say? Lord, take it. Have you ever done that?

Well, I love the response of this guy. Lord, I want to see. You see, his request was the evidence that he believed that Jesus could do what he asked. And so he's cured. Verse 42, Jesus said, Receive your sight.

Your faith Has healed you and immediately received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. And when all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Well, I'm glad to hear that because some of them must have been mighty embarrassed, especially those at the front. For the guy that they just told, sit down and be quiet, is all of a sudden he's up leading the charge, you know. He's in amongst the same group. I've seen that in churches. Oh, goodness gracious.

Look at this guy.

Now he became a Christian. Oh crap. Yeah. We can't have him as a Christian lord knight. We were using him as an example.

No, you saved him. No, we got him in the Bible study. What's going on? Let's keep the lines clear here, Jesus.

Now, the reply of Jesus is not that the man's faith created the cure. Rather, that his faith was the means by which he received the cure.

Now, let me draw this to a close. This man brought nothing to Christ. Except his need. See, that's the reason the crowd said to him, Listen, why don't you just go and sit down and be quiet? You've got nothing to contribute here.

And he said, Exactly, I have nothing to contribute. Let me tell you what I have, I have need. I'm blind and I need to see. There is no other way, my friends, to come to Jesus but on the basis of your need and on your awareness of the fact that He is adequate to meet your need. The man comes in his weakness and discovers strength.

The man comes in his darkness and finds light. The man comes in his abject poverty and discovers the riches that are to be his in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonder this is. Have you already forgotten the little paragraph that precedes this? What was in the mind of Jesus?

As he meets the man? What has he just told his disciples on the inn, on the QT? We're going up. They will mock me. Insult me.

Spit on me. Flog me. Kill me.

Now I don't know how much time you have for people. But I guarantee you, one of the times that is hardest to have time for people It's when there is something that is overwhelming you in your mind. Perhaps a diagnosis from the doctor, perhaps a struggle within the framework of your relationships, perhaps difficulty at the office or whatever it might be, but it is so demanding upon you that you have to pass people by. I'm sorry, maybe I could talk to you, but I'm sorry, no, I've got this in my mind. I've got to go here.

I'm sure you'll understand. And here we have Christ under the shadow of the cross, looking forward to the fact that here he's going to bear sin in his own body. Any He says Isn't that someone shouting out? Oh, yeah, but that's a blind beggar. Jesus, don't worry.

He shouts. You've been shouting here for ages. She said, I hear him. He still hears. He still stops.

He still listens. And he still saves. All that is necessary. is that you and I come to understand our blindness. Come to recognize the misery.

and the darkness that it brings. and come wholeheartedly to ask Christ. to let us see. This is a fulfilment. Of the words of the prophet Joel, all that call on the name of the Lord.

will be saved. This was the one occasion. When Christ would pass by. This man and his need. And on that occasion, He called out.

My dear friends, without any sense of melodrama, Christ passes by every row of this room right now, and he may never pass this way again in this way.

So today If you hear his voice, Do not harden your heart. It's not so much that it's seeing. That is believing. It's actually believing. Let's see it.

You need to believe. And then you'll see. Or you believe So simple. That's why he said, unless you receive the kingdom like a little child. You'll never answer it.

You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg. If you'd like to hear more teaching from Alistair about Jesus or the gospel, the basics of the Christian faith, visit our website truthforlife dot org slash learn more. And if you're looking for a topic for your next group Bible study, let me recommend Alistair's series My Times Are In Your Hands. This is a series where you'll learn what Scripture teaches about suffering and why God allows pain, hardship, and disappointment. As believers we're not immune to hard times.

The good news is the Bible gives us a framework for how to respond to periods of trial, even extended periods of suffering. The series My Times Are In Your Hands will help you explore topics like God's Faithfulness in Affliction, the godly response to unjust suffering, and resting in the security of God's sovereignty. You can download the Twelve Messages in this series along with the paired Twelve Session Study Guide for free. Go to truthforlife.org slash my times. And you might recommend that link to your friends so they can download the study.

That way you can enjoy learning how to rest in God's care together. Again, the study is called My Times Are In Your Hands. You'll find the messages and the study guide at truthforlife.org/slash mytimes. Thanks for studying God's Word with us today. Tomorrow, we'll hear about a man who desperately wanted to meet Christ.

Maybe that describes you. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.