2016-10-23 Luke 18:35-43 Removing Blinders

REMOVING BLINDERS (Luke 18:35-43) October 23, 2016 Read Lu 18:35-43 – The context: Earlier, Jesus noted it’s hard for rich people to enter the kingdom. So the disciples ask, 18:26, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” His point? Salvation is not by human effort. Thus, He reminds His disciples of His pending suffering, death and resurrection. That’s the objective basis for salvation and can only be accomplished by God in the flesh – Jesus. But with that foundation set, Luke gives us 2 stories answering the question who can be saved? It can be a poor, blind man or it can be a rich, arrogant man. It can be anyone, because “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” As often with Jesus, a physical condition, blindness, represents the spiritual reality of every person who is outside of Christ. However great their intellect, they are tragically blind to spiritual realities. Paul says in II Cor 4:4 “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” Christ is hidden from unbelievers just as surely as He was from this blind man. Unbelievers are like the guy who approached a woman with her back to him: “Hi Cousin.” But when she turned it was not his cousin. Same shape and size; same hairdo and clothing. But she was not his cousin. She accepted the man’s apologies. Then she opened her purse, gave him a card and hurried off. The card read: “Helen Miller: Optometrist.” I guess she thought she could help. Well, Jesus helped this man in an amazing way. He could see before he could see! While still physically blind, he saw some spiritual realities that saved him. And those things can guide us to saving faith as well. Listen, Beloved, if you are blind, you cannot see what you cannot see. Same with spiritual blindness. So what did this blind man see – before he could see? I. He Saw Self Clearly Mt 20:30 tells us there were two blind men – paired for safety. Luke focuses on one whose name is Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). His being named may show he was a member of the early church. He knew he had a problem. He was a beggar because of it. And when he thought help arrived, he acted: “ 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” We don’t know how long 1 he’d been blind. In v. 42 Jesus says, “Recover your sight.” But the Greek word can mean either gain or re-gain. Either way, he knew he had a problem. But think about this. If he had been born blind with no one around to describe seeing, he’d never have known, would he? He’d have assumed that 4 senses is all you get. He’d never have known what he was missing. Even if just 1 or 2 people tried to describe sight, he might have missed it. Had he not known he was blind, or refused to acknowledge it, he never would have been healed. And that’s where spiritual blindness is so devastating. Most people don’t know they are blind. No one has told them, or the god of this world (Satan) has kept the blinders in place. The first step in removing the blinders is to see ourselves for who we really are. No one will ever be saved until they know they need to be. Until we see how holy God is and how selfish even our most gracious acts are, let alone our worst ones, we cannot be saved. No one seeks a solution for a problem they don’t believe exists. But denying a problem doesn’t erase it. That’s the fate of those who are blind to their need of Christ. Some of you will remember Ken Caminiti. 15 years a big league 3 rd baseman. In 2002, Tom Verducci wrote in SI of, “the first public admission of steroid use by a prominent former player. Ken Caminiti revealed to SI that he won the 1996 NL MVP award while on steroids.” Caminiti started taking them for a shoulder injury in early ’96. But he used so heavily by season’s end his body had virtually stopped producing its own testosterone. He had multiple other side effects included loss of sexual function. His comment: “I’ve made a ton of mistakes. I don’t think using steroids is one of them.” That was 2002. Caminiti died in 2004 at the ripe old age of 41. Drug overdose. Denial doesn’t make it so, Beloved, not physically and not spiritually. And when the Bible clearly states, “the soul who sins shall die” (Ezek 18:4) we must take heed. God is telling us, “You have sin? Then you have a problem. You’re going to die. And you’re going to spend eternity somewhere other than where I am.” He’s helping us see self clearly like the blind man did. II. He Saw the Savior Clearly That doesn’t mean he knew everything there was to know about Jesus, but, I’ll tell you, he knew a lot for a blind beggar. And he believed it all. He hears a commotion one morning as he takes his begging station – a crowd going by. “What’s going on?” 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” That’s all he’s told. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ ministry had been mostly in 2 Galilee – not his zip code. But watch his reaction when he’s told, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” We tend to miss it, but what he says is amazing. “Son of David” to the 1st century Jewish population was unquestionably a Messianic title. It goes back to God’s promise to David in II Sam 7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” That text keyed Jewish expectations. They understood an ultimate “Anointed One” – Mesheach – Messiah, would one day rule on David’s throne. And I have no doubt that Bartimaeus also knew that Isa 35:5 prophesied, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened” and he believed it all. But how did he know Jesus was the One? We’re not told. No doubt Jesus’ reputation preceded him by this time. He had doubtless heard of the teaching and miracles of this amazing person who had burst on the scene. And some combination of that message, and the work of God in his heart had produced faith, right? That’s the way it always happens. Rom 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” So here, the little word he had heard coupled with bits of Scripture he knew, ministered by the HS produced faith. V. 42 tells us his faith saved him. The blind beggar sees the Savior clearly. In his blindness, he sees way better than the Pharisees who have been following Jesus for months trying to discredit Him. Grace is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? It allowed him to see Jesus for who He really was. Similarly, for the healing of spiritual blindness we must see Jesus for who He really is. It is not enough to accord Him a place in the pantheon of historical heroes – a great man who means nothing to me personally. It is not enough to declare Him a fine man and a great prophet. That is not enough. We must see Him by the title God gave Him at His birth as man – Immanuel – God with us. One of the great heroes of early Christianity is a man named Athanasius who lived during the 300’s AD (bishop of Alexandria 328-373). He opposed a theologian named Arius who denied the deity of Christ. The heresy was condemned (Council of Nicea in 325 AD), but Arius got multiple Roman emperors (who were only too happy to declare Jesus less than God) to agree with him. Athanasius spent his life fighting Arius over one letter. Know what that letter was? Arius said, “Jesus is homoiousios with the Father,” which means like substance. Athanasius said, “No, he’s homoousios [no “i”], the same substance. Get that ‘I’ out of there.” And he was right. You must get “I” 3 out and see Jesus as one with the Father. Paul says Jesus was in the very “form” of God. Col 1:19 says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Jn 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (literally, God was the Word). Jesus cannot be your Savior until you see Him for who He is – as God in the flesh. Also notice, once Bartimaeus knew Jesus was nearby, nothing could keep him away. 39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” He didn’t say, “It’s too hard to get to Him.” He didn’t say, “Well, I don’t want to offend anyone.” He would not be denied. People who see Jesus for who He really is won’t let anything hold them back. Ignatius of Antioch wrote of real possibilities in his day: “Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.” Nothing and no one was going to keep him from Christ. How about you? Bartimaeus had that mindset. Nothing could stop him. Someone once asked Helen Keller, “Isn’t it terrible to be blind?” She responded, “Better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.” Beloved, I beg you this morning, see Jesus for the saving God that He is. III. He Saw the Solution Clearly What was that solution? To cast himself on God’s mercy. V. 38: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” V. 39: “Son of David, have mercy on me.” This guy knows he brings nothing to this party. He labors under no illusions that he can restore his own sight. His only recourse is to plead for mercy. He does not argue he has helped other beggars. He doesn’t list his ethnic background or that he attends synagogue every week. He pleads for mercy, not justice. When we beg for justice, we are begging for our own condemnation. Not this man. He sees clearly it’s not merit that will help; it’s mercy. And don’t you love what Jesus does? Here is one insignificant blind beggar sitting on the outskirts of Jericho where he has been for years – and at his plea for mercy, Jesus stops. Jesus – who according to Jn 1:3 created all things “without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus, of whom Paul says, “in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). Jesus – in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” – that Jesus stops everything at one cry for mercy from the most insignificant of people and v. 40: “And Jesus stopped 4 and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” Look at that. One cry for mercy not only stopped the Lord of the universe cold in His tracks, but He then put Himself completely and totally at the disposal of the one seeking help. The Lord of the universe became the servant of a nobody named Bartimaeus. That’s incredible, Beloved. Had Bartimaeus presented his case based on his merit, there would have been no stopping; there would have been no offer for help; there would have been no invitation. But the cry for mercy changed everything. Just like the Pharisee’s prayer based on merit in Lu 18 fell on deaf ears, but the tax collector who cried out for mercy went home justified. This blind man saw clearly that his only hope was not in himself but in God’s mercy and that cry for mercy moved the heart of God thru Jesus. And so the hope for spiritual blindness is not in rehearsing our meritorious service for God. Won’t work. But cry for mercy and the Lord of the whole universe is instantaneously at our disposal. It doesn’t get any better than that. It takes humility to open God’s heart, not arrogance. Babe Ruth was, of course, the highest paid baseball player of his time. His $80,000 salary was more than twice anyone else’s. But when the Great Depression hit the Yankees asked him to take a cut. GM Ed Barrow said, “But Babe – you made more money last year than President Hoover.” Ruth replied, “I know, but I had a better year than he did.” Well, true or not, when we bring our own merit to present it we are in essence saying, “I had a better year than Jesus did.” Imagine how that’s going to play! It’s exactly as blasphemous as it sounds. The blind man saw – he saw that it was not his merit but God’s mercy that would save him. But one cry for mercy stopped the universe as Jesus puts Himself at his command. So we must seek mercy. IV. He Saw Salvation Clearly 42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” So, did the man get his eyesight? Absolutely. But he got a lot more. The phrase “your faith has made you well” literally reads, “your faith has saved you.” “Your faith has saved you.” It immediately calls to mind Eph 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved thru faith. [Ah hah! So – I was smart enough to believe, and God saved me. Really? Not so. Eph 2:8 goes on] And this [faith] is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” All of this tells us two things. It tells us this man was not only healed physically; he was saved spiritually – same word as Eph 2:8. But it also tells us that even the faith was not his own. 5 That too was a gift of God. Just as he could never have given physical sight to himself, so he could never have given spiritual sight to himself, but God gave him the faith to get both. It’s just like Jonah said in 2:9: “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” It’s all Him – lock, stock and barrel. And this man got that. How do we know? 43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” Who did he glorify? Himself for having had the sense to put his faith in Jesus? Oh, no. He put the glory exactly where it belonged. He glorified God. And as a result, so did others. What a beautiful story. He saw that salvation belongs to the Lord and he went away with 20/20 vision – physically and spiritually. Conc – Perhaps II Cor 4:4 is true of you today: 4 the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Then God has brought you here for a reason. He’s given you an opportunity to see yourself clearly – as someone bearing guilt that condemns you. He’s given you a chance to see the Jesus clearly – as one who came specifically to seek and to save those who are lost. But you must see the solution clearly as well – not your merit, but His mercy is your only hope. How do you get that? You ask for it. Like Bartimaeus did. Right here. Right now. Not allowing anyone to keep you away. Blindness kills. Take the blinders off by faith. Some of you may recall Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gargarin was the first man to fly in space (4/12/61). He was quoted at the time, “I looked and looked, but I never saw God.” Some insist that it was really a quote from Premier Khrushchev. Either way, the quote made the news. The following Sunday, W. A. Criswell, pastor of First Baptist in Dallas made a classic comment. He said, “Well, if that cosmonaut had stepped out of his spacesuit, then he would have seen God.” He was right of course. Common grace sustains life for each of us for the moment. But our moment could end any time. Gargarin, in perfect health, died at age 34 completely unexpectedly in a plane crash on a routine flight. If he’d never seen God before, he saw Him then. How much better to see Him now, in this life, when faith can save us eternally. Let Him take the blinders off, Beloved. Bartimaeus saw a lot before he could see. So can you if you open your heart to Jesus like he did. Let’s pray. 6