Experience TRUTH - #7

This is Robbie Dilmore from The Christian Car Guy and Kingdom Pursuit, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build a kingdom. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it and share it.

But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. What inspired John Newton, former slave trader, vicious, evil, harsh man who came to Christ? What inspired him to write that part, that little line in Amazing Grace, the most heralded song ever in history?

Instrumental, vocal, you hear it at funerals, you hear it at weddings, you hear it everywhere you go. Everyone knows it. What inspired that line? I was blind, but now I see it. It could have been this blind man on the Jericho Road who called out to Jesus. We're studying that this week, and what's it like to see Jesus? What would it have been like to look at him, to behold him, which is the first thing this man ever be held?

Well, Joe Sperley is back with me this week. Joe, I want you to read the passage, will you? And then we're going to go into these final few questions in Luke chapter 18. Tell us the verses you're going to read, then read them, Joe, and then we're going to go into this.

I'll direct you to this next question here, okay? Luke 18 through 35 through 43. Then it happened, as he was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, and he cried out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet, but he cried out all the more.

Son of David, have mercy on me. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he had come near, he asked him, saying, what do you want me to do for you? He said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. Then Jesus said to him, receive your sight, your faith has made you well. And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

So you have this great story here. Last time we talked about his prayer to Jesus, what a great prayer. Here he's blind, he's a beggar. He's obviously pretty much looked down upon in that culture.

Being blind is one notch up from being a tax collector. You're unclean, the blind were in a whole other category. Not quite as bad as being leprous, where you had to be isolated, but here it says he was brought, so someone had to care-take this guy, someone had to lead him around. They were hoping maybe his family, that his begging would be fruitful, that some of these wealthy merchants of Jericho would throw a little drachma or denarii or whatever they had into his little tin can so he could share that and pay the people that are bringing him.

They may have been making a profit on him, who knows? But here he is, Jesus comes by, he finds out, and he prays two times, he cries out. First time he's stopped and told to shut up by the crowd, the second time he cries out again, Son of David, have mercy on me.

Just pray that prayer sometime today, just say that with me wherever you are, maybe in your heart even. Son of David, have mercy on me. Joe, is there a better prayer than that? Psalm 34 says, verse 34 verse 6, the Lord hears the cry, the cry of the righteous.

He hears their cry, his ear is open to their cry. This guy couldn't even get to Jesus. Jesus says, bring him to me, and that's where we get into this question here, which will take us into the rest of this.

Go ahead, Joe, one more time, hit us with that. What's significant about the blind beggar's prayers to Jesus? So we have this prayer, calling out for mercy, he's helpless, and then this is where we're going next, Joe.

Fire that question away. What's significant about Jesus' question to him? So here's what Jesus says. It says he stood still, which is remarkable. Last week we talked about how, you know, Jesus standing still. You don't hear him doing that a whole lot, but he was stopped in his tracks, and he commanded him to be brought to him.

Okay, blind beggar can't, you know, he can't see where he is, maybe he can hear his voice, maybe he can't hear him, maybe he's far away, but he was crying this out passionately. So he says, bring him over here. You know, the guy can't take himself to Jesus, but Jesus certainly can command him to be brought to him. And it says, when he came near to Jesus, Jesus asked him a question, saying, what do you want me to do for you?

What a question. We know that Jesus, in Luke 19-10, this is the theme of the book of Luke, he came to seek and save the lost. We know over and over again in Luke, it says, he came to serve, he came to give. So he asked this man, what do you want me to do for you?

It seems like an obvious question, but there's a whole lot of depth in that question. Many folks have seen that movie, Aladdin. Okay, you may have taken your grandkids to that, Joe. You know, it's all about a genie. Now, when you rub that bottle and the genie comes out, what is the first thing he says, Joe? What does the genie say?

What is your wish? Now, fascinating. And then you're confronted with a conundrum.

Because this guy apparently can answer any question. I think the only thing he can't do is make me stronger than the genie. I think there's a few things like that.

There's a couple rules that the Disney folks have made it a real fun, creative, humorous, entertaining movie surrounding that whole narrative. But think about Jesus the Christ, the creator of heaven and earth. The one that made this blind man says to him, what do you want me to do for you? If Jesus Christ asked you for any wish, Joe, give you anything, Joe. I own everything. I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I own the world. I made the world. The earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. The skies and everything that dwells there is his. For all these things, he's fashioned with his own hands. Here, God Almighty asked this poor, destitute, blind, low-life guy who can't even get there, who's got to be dragged around to his post so he can beg all day. He's asking him what he can do for him. Is that not remarkable? This guy's just hit the lottery, Joe.

That is remarkable. When you think about that, for people listening out there, you really know where ever you're at in your life and you think you're down, that Jesus will lift you up as he says, what can I do for you? This is a great time, if you're listening to this, to think that Jesus wouldn't listen to you. He will listen to you and just pour out your heart and let him know what he can do for you and bring your life to him and you will see a big turn in your life. Look at the contrast. You know what it usually is?

It's usually, what can I do for him? Here's the deal. If you can't receive a gift, the gift from Jesus, you can't be saved. Listen closely to what the Word of God is saying here.

You will not go to heaven unless you can fully receive, embrace, enjoy the gift God offers you. So if you're one of those like I was for so many years before I came to Christ of, oh, I've got to do, do, do, do, do, do. I've got to don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't.

I've got to work my way. Oh God, I've got to, oh no, no, no, don't. Peter did it in the upper room, John 13. He said, Lord, Lord, I want to wash your feet.

No, no, no, no, I should wash your feet. I mean, you're the Lord. John did it in John chapter 2. Jesus, behold the Lamb of God, John chapter 1, takes away the sins of the world. Jesus said, you're going to baptize me. He says, I'm not going to baptize you.

Yes, you are going to baptize me. See, we don't want, we want to serve him, we want to do for him, but we, our efforts, our righteousness, alla the rich young ruler, alla any human being that's ever lived, are going to lead us straight to hell. The only righteousness that can take us to heaven is the righteousness of Christ, and the only way it comes to us is through the gift of him giving. It says, the Son of Man laid his life down. He gave his life.

He came to serve, not to be served, and to give his life a ransom for many. This is love, not that you love God, but that he loved you and gave his life for you, Joe. So this turns the whole religious system of the world. Every religion in the world comes down to this thing. Jesus Christ in Christianity says, what can I do for you? Every other religion is what can you do for God.

Five Pillars of Islam, 200 gazillion deities in Hinduism, trying to please one of them, you know, for Pete's sake. You know, you've got Buddhism, you've got to meditate, you've got to find your karma state, you've got to go inside, you've got yoga, you've got Taoism, and Chantuism, and all the Eastern religions, gazillions of religions, every one of them is, what do I do to get to God? One belief system that's ever existed says, God Almighty says, what can I do for you? And he answers the question, but this blind man simply says, in humility, and he's desperate, he's his last leg, he couldn't even get to Christ, and he says, that I may receive my sight. Lord, he calls him Lord again, he bows to him, he shows the authority of Christ there, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

Verse 42, then Jesus said to him, receive your sight, your faith has made you well. And I really believe, Joe, he wanted to see the one who gave him sight. And this next question goes right there. What is that question right there?

Read that real quick. Who was the first person this man ever saw? That is amazing. Picture yourself being blind, and then all of a sudden, not being blind, and then having Jesus Christ in front of you, that is just totally amazing. The light of the world invaded this man's darkness. This is one of the great I AM statements of John, John chapter 8, I am the light of the world. And what's fascinating is, look at what role he had faith, he believed, that's what he calls us to, he calls us to believe. Hebrews 11 and 6, without faith it's impossible to please God, for he that comes to him must believe that he exists. So why is faith so important?

Because faith opens the arms and says, God, I don't know, I can't get there, I can't do anything for you, but I'll receive that gift. You know, it's hard to receive gifts at Christmastime, Joe, why? Because the first thing that comes to your mind and mine is, oh, what am I going to do for them?

Oh, shoot, they're not on my list. Oh, gosh, I've got to spring big, oh, the boss bought me a gift, I've got to get the Boston gift, you know, you have the parade charade. God demonstrates his love toward us that while we were yet sinners, nothing to offer him but our horrible sin, Christ died for us, Romans 5-8. This is the good news of the Gospel, that God invaded our lives, and he offers us this gift. Yet we're too stubborn, self-righteous, too greedy, or we think we're too sinful to take it, but this blind man was at the height of all of that, and he said, I believe. He said, give me my sight, and Jesus said, your faith has made you well. And the word well there, by the way, in the Greek is not just wellness of health, it's not just he opened that retina, he opened those eyes, those corneas, so they could see perfectly, you know, 20-20 vision, but wellness of soul. The Greek word there is, your faith has made you whole. Your faith has brought salvation, because salvation has come to you. What a great statement. Read this real quick, Joe, these last questions here, and then we'll go down here next.

Go ahead. What three things did the blind beggar do immediately in verse 43, and then how was his response different from the rich young rulers, and why did all the people glorify God? Yeah, so three things. He received his sight, which means he completely was healed of his blindness. God healed him completely immediately. This speaks of the miracle of God's light in God's life. Number two, he followed Jesus. Look at all the times in Luke that people follow Jesus.

This speaks of a total change of direction. His head, heart, hands, and feet followed his eyes. He now can see, and guess who he followed? The one he could see. He followed him. Number three, he glorified God. This speaks of an outward expression of his new inward affection and priority.

See? He sees, physically healed, and he follows Jesus. You know, he changed a whole new direction, and his heart is changed, he's glorifying God, he's got a new object of worship. And all three of these things demonstrate the change that Jesus Christ brings in his amazing grace.

And look at what the people did. It says, all the people gave praise to God. Read these last testimony times here, we'll wrap up, Joe. How was your condition before Jesus, much like the blind beggar? Who is glorifying God today because of how he's opened your eyes?

Wow. Like the Samaritan, like the publican, the younger brother. Lazarus, the blind beggar, was healed, and the blind beggar was saved. Tragically, the older brother, the rich man, the Pharisee, the rich young ruler, and so many others, they had it all figured out. They didn't want Jesus to do for them. They were hopelessly lost because they were trying to do for Jesus. This is why we need God's grace.

Imagine this man. And you know what? The last thing he saw, by the way, we'll see in the next few chapters. He sees the climax of Christ's life, he sees the triumphal entry, he sees the people say, bless is he who comes in the name of the Lord, he sees Jesus teaching in the temple, he sees the crucifixion, he sees the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. His faith had made him well. I once was blind, but now I see. And what a change God made in this man's life.

Hey, this has been Experience Truth. Thanks for being with us. Thank you, Joe. You're awesome, man. What a blessing. Thank you. This was great. Keep shining God's light everywhere we go, right, Joe?

That's why. Let his light shine through to you and point people to the light of the world who wants to do for you what you can't do for yourself. Salvation forever and for now, right now. Call onto him. Call upon the Lord.

You'll be saved. Follow us on social media. This is Experience Truth. I'm Stu Everson. Join us next time as we journey. We'll be cracking open Luke chapter 19 and the story of the wee little man next time right here on Experience Truth. This is the Truth Network.