Page 1 Luke 18:35-43 The faith of a blind man 1. The power of faith 2. The progression of faith 3. The praising outcome of faith 1) The power of faith A. Personal faith 35-38: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! The blind beggar sits where he always sits. By the side of the road that winds its way into Jericho. He is there every day. His hand outstretched. He shouts out his requests for a few coins to help him survive. He is eking out an existence. He hears the same noises that he hears every day his ears finely attuned to what is happening all around him. It is a day like any other. But then he hears something that jars with the normal sounds, the everyday noises that make up his unseen world. It is a rumbling sound. A murmuring. Coming up the hill. It is getting gradually louder. He hears the hum of voices, people shouting out. There is an excitement. An event. It is coming his way. On the road to Jericho. Finally what is evidently a large crowd of people passes right by him. He grabs the sleeve of the person standing nearest him. He shouts out to those standing around him What is it? What is going on? Tell me? What do you see? The answer comes back: Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. It s Jesus. And a big crowd of followers.
Page 2 The blind man is lost in the crowd. He can t see. He can t follow the surging mass of people. He is getting left behind. By the roadside. Jesus is passing by. The crowd is on the move. There is a lot of buzz and excitement. But he is not part of it. And something rises up inside of him. He has been in this condition for years. Sitting by the roadside. Hand outstretched. Enveloped in darkness. A deep desperation and an urgency swells up from his gut as the rumbling noise of the passing crowd reaches a crescendo. He does not want to miss out on this moment. He does not want Jesus to pass him by. He does not want the crowd to simply carry on and for him to be left in the same place he has been in for years, still begging, still blind. Sometimes, it is only when the pain of staying the same becomes too excruciating, that we will embrace the challenge of change. And out of his mouth comes an almighty shout a piercing cry: Son of David, have mercy on me! This is personal. It is not enough to be in the crowd. It is not enough to hear the excitement. It is not enough to be nearby. It is not enough to hear the stories of other people s encounters. Have mercy on me! Bill Hybels in a small church on his summer holidays. A small group of Christians in a rural church: It s not my brother or my sister, but it s me O Lord standing in the need of prayer. In the midst of crowds, it is the personal cry of faith that God hears. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry. (Psalm 34:15)
Page 3 You can go along with the crowd for so long, you can get lost in the crowd, you can sit on the fringes of a crowd, but don t let Jesus pass you by. You have to develop your own personal walk with Jesus. You have to have your own encounter with him. It needs to be your cry. Your prayer. Your walk. Your talk. On this day, with this man, it is personal faith that is displayed. Son of David, have mercy on me. B. Persistent faith 39: Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more Some of us live out our Christian faith according to the motto: If at first you don t succeed. Give up! I prayed for that situation and nothing happened. I tried to resurrect my devotional life, but I just can t get into it. I tried reading the Bible, but it just didn t speak to me. I ve been coming to church for a while and I still don t have any friends. I ve been asking God to help me in this situation and nothing has changed. The phrases that rear their head in our mind include: Why bother? Why make the effort? It doesn t make any difference. It didn t work last time. Sometimes we impose this on ourselves, sometimes the devil uses other people to help us in our discouragement and disillusionment.
Page 4 The devil agrees with us it s not worth it. Don t bother. Give up. You re tired. You re wasting your time. Nothing will happen. These voices came to the blind man. Sit down. Shut up. Stop causing a stir. Stop shouting. But I love the response of the blind man. but he shouted all the more. He is not going to be distracted or deterred from his pursuit of Jesus. He is desperate and he is determined and he is dogged. His faith is persistent especially in the face of opposition. Do you feel like giving up on faith? Walking away from fellowship? Come again. Ask again. Pray again. Serve again. Persist. Shout louder. but my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:38-39) Some of us need to stand up, shout up and sing up not shut up and give up. C. Precise faith 41: What do you want me to do for you? Do you have the spiritual gift of wishy washy prayers? O Lord bless me. Bless them. Bless us all. Bless this day. Bless. Amen. Jesus looks at a blind man who has been brought to him, holding onto the arms of those that are guiding him. And he asks what do you want me to do for you?
Page 5 You might think that Jesus would know. Jesus wants precise prayer, simple prayer, honest prayer specific faith. The blind man answers Bless me Lord. Bless us all Lord. Bless.Amen. No he doesn t he answers Lord, I want to see. God desires truth from us. Truth and honesty. Simple prayer. Why do you think that we are sometimes so vague with God? So unclear in our requests? Is it because we do not know what to pray? Is it because we do not know what to ask for? Is it because we are afraid that God won t grant our request? Better not to ask, then we won t be disappointed. It s a bit silly really. Because God already knows our thoughts. He knows us better than we know ourselves. You are not fooling God. You are not pulling the wool over his eyes. So be honest. Pete Greig asking for passion in prayer. Admitting to God that you are in the dark. Blind. You want to see. You need wisdom. When I talk to my children and ask them how they are I don t want vague answers and half-truths. I want to really know what is going on inside them. I want to hear them and help them. I want them to be honest with me.
Page 6 Maybe it s time we got a lot more precise in prayer. Ask for specific things. Write down your prayers. See how God answers. Don t be afraid of a no. Be bold and audacious. D. Purifying faith 42: your faith has healed you. Your faith has made a difference Bartimaeus. This encounter with Jesus changed this man s life. Scholars say that Mark s gospel preserves the blind man s name Bartimaeus because he became a stalwart in the Jerusalem church. I don t know if this is true, but what is certain is that by placing his faith in Jesus, this man came to be healed physically as well as spiritually. This was saving, purifying faith at work. All of a sudden, instead of walking in darkness, this man is walking in the light. if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) On other occasions, Jesus has healed people physically, but at the same time he has done a greater miracle and pronounced Your sins are forgiven. Only Jesus has the power to do this in a person s life to purify us from our sin and wrongdoing. This is purifying faith. It s the same purifying faith which caused John Newton, the one-time slave-trader, to write the lines: Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see
Page 7 2) The progression of faith At the start of this story, the man is blind and begging; by the end he sees, believes and follows Jesus. Blind: Begging: Inquiring: Asking: Persisting: Seeing and believing: Every story of conversion to Christianity is a story in the progression of faith. For some, there is a dramatic moment of conversion, for others there is a more gradual progression of faith, a discovering of Jesus. Some people come to church and listen and take it all in. And on many occasion, there is a moment where the penny drops a moment where someone says: That s it, I am ready to become a Christian. And the progression does not stop when we cross the line of faith. The journey of faith continues. We progress. We regress. We wander and we return. But we are called to be transformed from glory to glory. To become more like Jesus. This journey and progression of faith will only end when we reach heaven. The bible puts it in seeing terms: For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Cor 13:12) 3) The praising of faith 43: he followed Jesus praising God. When all the people saw it they also praised God. It is a wonderful thing when Jesus changes your life. It is a wonderful thing to see people who were spiritually blind receiving their sight. It is a wonderful thing to see and experience the amazing grace of God. When faith is at work, praise is never far behind.
Page 8 If we have received our spiritual sight and followed Jesus, we should be a praising people! Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine; Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long