LUKE 18:31-43 RECEIVE YOUR SIGHT2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 18:31-43 Receive Your Sight

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. As we get started looking at this passage, Luke chapter 18, verses 31 through 43, I want to start by asking you a question. It's a very serious question, so please pay attention. Have you ever looked in the mirror...

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and found a big piece of cilantro in your teeth right there. Have you ever done that? Has that ever happened to you? Of course it has, right? It's happened to everybody. Have you ever noticed that your zipper was down after hours of walking around amongst people? I'm sure you have. It's something that has happened to most of us.

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You and I, we have those kinds of things that happen in our lives physically, but also, more importantly, spiritually. We all have issues that we cannot see. We could refer to them as blind spots. They're things that are issues in our lives that we

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We just don't realize what's going on. We don't realize the issue that's happening or the action that we're involved in or the damage that's being done. We have these blind spots, like a piece of cilantro on your teeth, that you just, you don't realize that it's there or what's going on. There's a blindness that can happen in our lives.

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And so this morning, as we look at this passage, the Lord wants to address this issue of blindness and blind spots. And so the title of the message this morning is, Receive Your Sight.

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We want you, the Lord wants you to receive your sight, to recognize where there is blindness. Recognize those blind spots that you might be able to address them, or more importantly, that the Lord might be able to address them for you. And so there's three points that we will look at as we go through this passage together. The first point we find in verses 31 through 34, and that is you need to realize your need for sight.

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We need to recognize that there is a need that we need to be able to see. Now as we go through these things, you'll notice this is a little bit different than a normal message for me, where I'm expounding the text, but really kind of spiritualizing it and applying it to this issue of blindness. And so this is what the Lord has put upon my heart and that's how we'll go through it this morning. We start out in verse 31. Here's what it says.

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Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. Jesus here takes this opportunity to talk with his twelve disciples and explain to them what is about to happen.

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Since chapter 9 of the Gospel of Luke, we've been following Jesus on his final journey to Jerusalem. He's been going around, taking his time, ministering in lots of different areas, but all the while traveling towards Jerusalem one last time.

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And he knew what awaited for him in Jerusalem. He knew that he would be crucified. But his disciples, even though Jesus has told them before, they didn't quite get it yet. They didn't understand what he was about to walk into in Jerusalem. But Jesus fully knew what was going to happen.

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This is amazing to me. It's important for us to recognize that Jesus knew what he was signing up for when he became a man. He knew what would happen as he was born of the Virgin Mary and grew up. He knew when he made the decision to become a

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a man, he knew what it entailed. He knew what was happening. This is not a surprise when he is turned over and crucified. It's not a surprise. It's always been part of God's plan because it's God's plan of redemption for you and I. This is the way that he is able to redeem us from sin and that's why Jesus came. And so he's explaining this to his disciples because he knew what was going on. Now,

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He tells us here in verse 31 that all these things are written by the prophets. And so he says, look, this is in the word of God. There's a lot of records. There's a lot of prophecies that have been foretold about the Messiah and what he will go through in Jerusalem. And he's telling the disciples, now those prophecies are going to be fulfilled.

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Now we'll go on here and we'll see that the disciples really didn't understand what Jesus was saying. Their understanding probably was skewed because they were looking for different prophecies to be fulfilled. When you look at Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, the Savior, there's two kinds that you can look at.

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You see the prophecies about the glorified king, the savior, the redeemer, the one who will sit upon the throne. But then you also see the prophecies about the suffering servant and how there will be humiliation and pain and difficulty. Now, the Jewish people, the disciples specifically, they believed...

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the Old Testament. But they really only focused on the prophecies about the glorified king. They were looking for the Messiah to set up a kingdom right there, right then. And so Jesus, they believed he was the Messiah. As he's talking about going to Jerusalem and all the prophecies are going to be accomplished, they're thinking, all right, now's the time for the kingdom to be established. But Jesus was really referring to

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The suffering servant prophecies. Prophecies like Isaiah chapter 53, which talks about the crucifixion of Jesus very clearly. Him being cast off and rejected, not for himself, but for his people. Him being the savior of the world. That's what he's about to accomplish. Those are the scriptures that are about to be fulfilled. But they didn't quite get it. Even though Jesus is explaining it pretty clearly. Check out verse 32.

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He says,

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As Jesus refers back to the Old Testament prophecies, he gives some very clear prophecy about what he's about to go through. And there's amazing detail here in his prophecy. Amazing details about what he went through for us. First of all, he says he will be delivered to the Gentiles.

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And we know that that's what happened in the life of Jesus. He was turned over to Pontius Pilate. You know, put on trial through Pontius Pilate. Then...

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He's scourged and then crucified by the Romans. And so he said he'll be delivered to the Gentiles. That was accomplished. He will be mocked. That was definitely accomplished. Remember the Romans put the purple robe on him and the crown of thorns and they bowed down and said, Hail King of the Jews. They mocked him. He said he will be insulted, which also took place. He will be spit upon, which also took place. He will be scourged.

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That's the whipping of his back. And that also took place. And then ultimately he will be killed, crucified upon the cross. And then he says he will rise again on the third day. So Jesus outlines the whole suffering that he's about to go through quite clearly for his disciples. But check out verse 34.

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It says, but they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them and they did not know the things which were spoken. Now Luke kind of goes to some length here to make sure that we understand the disciples did not get it. He says it basically three times. He says, first of all, they understood none of these things. They didn't understand what he was saying. Then he goes on to say, this saying was hidden from them.

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They didn't understand. It was hidden from them. And then finally, he says, they did not know the things which were spoken. So three times in different ways to make sure that we understand the disciples had no clue what was about to happen. They had no clue what was about to take place. Now, you and I, we read this and it's very easy to say, how could they not see it?

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I mean, he spelled it out. I don't know how to make it more clear. How would you say this in a more clear way about what is about to happen to Jesus? I mean, it's as clear as can be. It seems so clear to us, but this is why we're talking about blindness this morning. There's blindness for these disciples. There's a blind spot here. They were completely clueless about what was to take place.

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The commentator William MacDonald says, We often believe what we want to believe and resist the truth if it does not fit into our preconceived notions. That's true, right? We believe what we want to believe, what fits into what we want to happen. The disciples are thinking Jesus is establishing his kingdom. The scriptures are going to be fulfilled because he's the Messiah. And so as Jesus delivers this message to them,

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It doesn't fit what they're expecting and they miss the point of what Jesus is saying. They miss the reality of what is about to take place. They were looking for the glorified king and they missed the scriptures.

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that he would also be a suffering servant. Now Jesus will fulfill the rest of those scriptures as well. He will be the glorified king. He will come again. That's the second coming of Jesus. But the first time he came was to deal with sin. And the way that he would accomplish that is by suffering on the cross for us. Luke says, they did not understand. This word understand, it's the idea of

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Putting pieces together. You know, like you have a bunch of pieces from a puzzle. And you take all those pieces and you put them together. In the same way, they had all these pieces. They had these prophecies and these prophecies and what Jesus was saying. And they couldn't figure out how to put them together. They couldn't figure out how it all fit and how it would all make sense. And so, you know, sometimes if you're doing a puzzle, I don't advise it. But if you got a piece, you don't see how it makes sense.

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You just discard it. You just toss it out. That's kind of what was going on. They were just, that doesn't make sense. It doesn't fit with what I know is going to happen. And so it resulted as a blind spot for them because they let go of those things that they couldn't fit together. They couldn't figure it out. There was blindness for them. It was a blind spot for them. Now as you and I consider this,

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looking at them as an example, we can recognize as well that we can have similar types of issues in our own lives, where the Word of God is very clear, where the Lord is speaking very clearly, and yet we just don't get it.

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We just don't understand. And so I want to talk about different types of blindness that we should consider as we look at these things this morning. There's spiritual blindness that we can have happening in our lives and in our hearts. In John chapter 9 verse 40 and 41 says,

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It's the conclusion of Jesus healing another blind man, a different situation, a man who is blind, he was healed. And Jesus is ministering to him and talking about how he came so that those who are blind would be able to see. He was using it, the physical healing, but also to speak spiritually. And there are some Pharisees who are listening in. And the Pharisees respond and say, what are you saying, Jesus? Are we blind? Is that what you're saying?

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And Jesus responds to them and said, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remains. They had a spiritual blindness. They were missing the Messiah right in front of them. It was a spiritual blindness, but they insisted we are not blind. They insisted, no, we see, we have understanding, we understand spiritual things, but

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But Jesus was saying that they are blind. There's a spiritual blindness. And when you do not believe in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual blindness. It's a blindness that you cannot receive spiritual things. You cannot have access to God or walk with God because all of that comes through Jesus Christ.

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And so you and I can have spiritual blindness by not having a right relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. But then you can also have blindness to your own heart. In Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9, Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jeremiah says, look, your heart is deceitful

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And he's not saying your heart is deceiving other people. He's saying your heart is deceiving you. That you can't even know your own heart. And so there are going to be issues in your heart and you won't even know it because your heart is deceiving you about those issues.

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But then he goes on to say in verse 10 of Jeremiah 17, I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind to give every man according to the fruit of his doings. So the Lord knows our hearts. He sees the depths there. But a lot of times we are blind to what's really happening in our own hearts, to what's really happening within. We can also have a blindness in regard to our actions. Sometimes we are doing things that are

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sinful, that are wrong, that are hurtful, and we don't recognize it. We don't realize it. In Luke chapter 23 verse 34, it's the time where Jesus is on the cross. The crucifixion is happening. He's just been nailed to the cross. He's lifted up there. They're waiting for him to die. And Jesus is looking upon the people and he says, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.

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Jesus says, Father, forgive them. They're blind. They don't understand what's really going on here. They don't realize they're crucifying God. They're crucifying the Son of God, the Savior. And so we can have that similar kind of issue in our lives where we are behaving in a way that is hurtful or wrong and

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Maybe it's a personality issue. Maybe it's an anger issue or a lustful issue. Maybe it's a, you know, whatever it might be, bad attitude. We miss the reality of what's happening because we're blind to it and we don't see what's going on. Now, there are other things that we do that we know full well what we're doing and it's wrong. That's a separate issue. But here we're looking at things that

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We're blind to, that we don't see what's really going on. We could also look at a blindness to biblical truth. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So he says, natural man,

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Man, natural people, they can't receive the things. We can be blind. We can have the scriptures right in front of us, just like Jesus spoke directly to the disciples very clearly, and we could still miss it. We could have a blindness to what the Bible is actually saying, to the reality of what is going on.

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Now, these are just a few examples. You could also talk about blindness to the will of God. You know, that you have no idea what God wants for your life. That you're not aware of what He's calling you to.

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Now I'm using the word blindness, but you could also fill in the word blind spots if you prefer. You know, sometimes the extent of the blindness is greater and sometimes it's lesser. And so maybe you do have some spiritual understanding. You're not completely blind spiritually, but maybe you have some blind spots.

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And maybe that doesn't sound so bad, but hey, blind spots can still cause a lot of damage. Could still bring a lot of hurt, you know? Think about in a car. You know, you have your blind spots, and if you behave in a way that, well, your blind spot is there, so you didn't see what was going on, and so you hit the other car, there's some damage that is done. In the same way,

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We need to be aware and concerned about blind spots or blindness in our lives because it brings damage, it brings destruction. And there is consequences to those areas of blindness in our lives. So these are the types of things that we're talking about. As we talk about receiving your sight, we're dealing with this issue of, well, I need sight.

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I need to see in those blind spots. I need to see in those areas where there's blindness and I'm not able to see what's really going on. But how do we know if we have a blind spot? How do we know if there is this kind of blindness in our lives? Because, you know, it might be kind of hard to diagnose if you don't know what to look for. So here's a couple of things. How do you know if you're blind? Here's one thing to check.

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Other people tell you that you're blind. Now, I'm just thinking, I don't know personally, and I don't know anybody who's blind, but if somebody is born blind, if that's all that you know, how do you know that you're blind? If you're born that way, if that's all that you know? I'm thinking you know because people have told you so.

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People have shared that with you. They can see. In the same way as we talk about the things of the spirit, as we talk about our spiritual lives and hearts, when there's a blindness in our lives, oftentimes the way that we know that there's this blindness is other people tell us, hey, you're not realizing what's really going on here. You're missing something. There's an issue. There's a problem and you don't see it.

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Now, we don't always like to hear from other people about our blind spots or areas of blindness. It's not necessarily our favorite thing to do, but it is something that is important and necessary for us.

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It's why we need to have believers around us that we can trust, that we can receive from, that they would be able to be close enough to us to be able to share with us, to see the issue and then share with us that there is an issue. You could think of it maybe like a coach, right? Athletes and different kinds of people, they need coaches. Why do they need coaches?

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To help them see what they can't see. That they could become, you know, the fullness or the best that they can become. Coaches can see what we cannot. So if, you know, you have a batting coach. The batting coach watches you bat. And then says, okay, here's what you're doing with your swing. Here's how you're holding your hands. You know, here's the timing that you're off on. They're able to see those issues, identify them, so that then we can help address them or learn to address them.

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You and I need that kind of help in our lives. We need coaches. Now, I would encourage you to select coaches wisely. I mean, sure, you can ask anybody and they'll have opinions about all kinds of things. But that's not what you're looking for. You're not just looking for anybody to speak their mind. You're looking for

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Godly people who love you, who will give to you the truth on the basis of the word of God. Spiritual leaders, spiritual coaches in your life. Now listen, when you have those kinds of people in your lives, you need to listen to them. You need to pay attention to what godly people who love you say about you. Because they can see things that you cannot see.

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Our tendency is to say, I'm not blind. And so that's why first point here is realize your need for sight. You're not going to realize that you're blind many times unless somebody loves you enough to tell you, hey, this is what's going on. You're missing this. You're wrong on this. You're out of line here. You have this issue and you need to address it.

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And so one way to know if you're blind is when other people, again, choose carefully, but godly people who love you, when they speak to you, listen to them. Let them coach you. Let them bring to your attention those things that you are failing to see. Another way that you could know that you're blind is, well, there are those times where you see enough to know that you can't see. Have you ever experienced that? I've experienced that. Obviously, you can see I wear glasses.

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And without my glasses, I'm nearsighted. So I can see close. So if I want to read my notes, I go like this. But from back here, I see enough to know that there's words there. I see shapes. I see colors. I see words. But I can't see the details. So I can see enough to know that I can't see. And I look at you guys and I go, there's people there.

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Is that you, Pastor George? You know, I can't tell. I can see it's a person, but I can't see the details. I can't see who it is. In the same way, spiritually speaking, sometimes we have those cases where we can see enough to know that there's an issue, but we can't quite tell what the issue is. We can't quite tell the details of what's going on. Have you ever asked yourself, why am I so grumpy today?

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Right? You recognize the issue. There's an issue. I'm grumpy. Why am I grumpy? Why am I behaving like this? Why am I acting like this? What's going on here? And you try to figure out, what side of the bed did I wake up on today? You know, what's going on? Why am I so grumpy? Why am I so grumpy?

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And so that's one way to know that you see an issue in your life. You see, why is this happening, you know, in my marriage? Why is this happening in my workplace? Why is this happening on the freeway? What's going on here? There's a problem. There's an issue. But I don't have it figured out yet. Those times where you can see that your life is not where it's supposed to be, but you don't quite know how to resolve it. You don't know what the real problem is. I think the final way to know...

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if you are blind, is in the cases where you used to be able to see. You used to have spiritual understanding. And you heard from the Lord. And God was speaking to you and working in your life. And now in the absence of that, you notice, what happened? I'm not hearing from the Lord. God's not speaking to me. There's something missing. Again, thinking just kind of practically about a person who has sight and has gone blind,

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They know that they're blind because, well, they used to see. And now there's darkness. Now they don't see any longer. They don't see like they used to. In the same way that happens to us spiritually. We used to see. We used to have insight. We used to have a better understanding of our relationship with God and our behavior and activity in our heart. We used to be, well, we used to be very clear-minded.

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But it's not any longer. And so this morning, I want to encourage you to realize your need for sight. We all have blind spots. Some people are completely blind in certain areas. And some have a particular area. It's a blind spot instead of a complete blindness. We all have this happen. And sometimes...

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Even when the message is quite clear right in front of our face, we can't see it. I like the way that Dave Guzik describes it. He said, they heard the words right from the mouth of Jesus and they saw the expression on his face and still did not understand. We can never see God's truth unless he opens our eyes. Think about it. We read it and we think, that's very clear. How could they miss that?

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But they were there. They were face to face with Jesus. They heard His voice. They saw His expressions. How could they miss the message? How could they miss what was right in front of them? It's not too hard to just carry that over and say, how can I miss what was right in front of me? I've experienced that. I'm sure you've experienced that where...

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You miss the things that are right in front of you. Listen, I've experienced all these things. All these different kinds of blindness, I've experienced. All these different kinds of realizing that I'm blind, I've experienced. I mean, these are things that I've experienced and I expect to continue to experience these things for the rest of my time on earth. As long as I'm in this body, I will have blind spots.

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I will have issues that I miss, that I don't see. Otherwise, listen, if I saw everything, then there would be little room for growth, right? But there's continued growth because the Lord continues to reveal different things that I was blind to before. And so He works on that area and then He shows me a little bit more and He works on that area and He shows me a little bit more and He works on that area. That's how it's supposed to be. But we get into trouble when we refuse...

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To believe that there is a blind spotter. That there is a possibility of blindness in our hearts and in our lives. If we were not blind, we would not need any growth. But we do need growth. Because there's those things that we're missing. As Paul described, we're looking in a glass darkly. We see dimly. We don't see clearly. We don't have a full understanding of what's really going on. And so, realize your need for sight.

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Now the good news as we go on in the rest of this passage is that blindness can be healed. As we go on in the rest of the passage, it's the account of a man who receives healing for his blindness. Now it's a physical blindness and a physical healing, but it's a great example for us that

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That we might learn how to be healed of those areas of blindness spiritually. And in our hearts, those things that are going on in our lives personally. This guy provides a great model for us to be healed of our blindness. So now we go on to point number two. Verses 35 through 41. And point number two is that we need to ask Jesus for our sight. Ask Jesus for your sight. Check out verse 35.

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It says,

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But as he's sitting there by the road, he recognizes this isn't normal travel that's going on here. There's a commotion. There's a great multitude, a great cloud. Crowd, not cloud. A great crowd. And so he asks, what's going on? He's asking people around him, who can see? He says, what's going on? Why is this different than normal?

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And so they tell this man that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. In Mark chapter 10, Mark also records the account of this event. He refers to the man, he gives him actually his name, which is Bartimaeus. And so this man, Bartimaeus, he's blind, he's begging, he hears this commotion, he asks what's going on, and they say Jesus of Nazareth passed.

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is here. He's passing by. And this prompts Bartimaeus to cry out to Jesus. Check out verse 38. It says, and he cried out saying, Jesus son of David have mercy on me. Verse 39, 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.

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He refers to Jesus, as he's crying out, he refers to Jesus as the son of David. Now this is very interesting and important because this is not a normal title to give to somebody. This is a specific reference to the Messiah.

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Because it was prophesied in the Old Testament that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. And so referring to the son of David is a reference to this Savior that God had been promising. The Messiah would be a descendant of David. And so this guy recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior that God had promised. And so he's calling out to Jesus and saying, you are the Savior, right?

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Have mercy on me. It's a little bit ironic, right? As you see the disciples face to face with Jesus, He explains some things to them and they don't get it. But here is a guy who is blind and he can see clearly who Jesus is. He is the Messiah, the Savior. And so he says, have mercy on me. He calls out to Jesus and he says, have mercy on me.

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Have compassion on me. Look at me in my need. Have compassion upon me because of the situation that I am in. Now it's very likely that Bartimaeus thought that his blindness was the result of sin. Because that was the common thought of the day. It was the teaching of the rabbis of the day. Hey, if you're involved in sin, it results in bad things. And so if, well, you're in a situation where you're blind...

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It's probably because you sinned that God has struck you with blindness. You might remember in John chapter 9, when the disciples point out a blind person to Jesus and say, who sinned, him or his parents, that he was born blind? They thought that that's the way that God works. God doesn't work that way. But they thought, hey, if you're blind, you must have some sin. So it's very likely that this is what this guy thought. Like, I must have sinned. And so as he's calling out for mercy...

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He might not even fully be understanding what he's asking for, but he's saying, I'm sinful, so have mercy on me. He's asking for the right thing. And again, he's a good example for us because we need mercy. Sometimes we forget, but we need mercy. We don't want God's justice because, well, what we deserve is not what we want. We don't want judgment. We deserve judgment because we are sinful.

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We want God's mercy, and so we need to cry out for mercy. Now, the people try to silence him because he's crying out to Jesus, but I like it. It says that he cried out all the more. Now, when it says that he cried out, it means to scream or to croak. It's the idea of calling out like a raven calls out. He's saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And they're like, be quiet, be quiet. So it makes him call out more, Jesus, Jesus.

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He's calling out. There's a desperation that he's expressing here. He needs Jesus. He's not saying, hey Jesus, you know, if you got time, you know, maybe you could come and hang out and talk a little bit. I'd like to see if maybe you'll have compassion on me or mercy. He doesn't send him a little post-it note like, hey, you think you could spare a minute? There's this desperation. There's this call out, this desire for Jesus to work.

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And so verse 40, it says, So Jesus stood still. Think about that. That's pretty amazing, right? Jesus stood still. When this guy who is blind and in need is calling out to Jesus, it gets his attention. He stood still. It goes on to say, And he 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?

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And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. He gets Jesus' attention as he cries out, as he calls out. And so Jesus says, okay, come here. All right, what do you want? What do you want me to do for you? And the guy says, Lord, I want to see that I would receive my sight. Again, this guy, he's dealing with his physical issue of blindness.

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But as you and I look at it this morning, we learn from his example. This is what we need to do. We need to ask Jesus for sight. Because we all have blind spots. We all have blindness. Now as we look at this man as an example, we can learn a couple things. First of all, we need to realize that Jesus is the answer.

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When he says, Jesus, Son of David, he's saying, you are the Savior. I know that you are the Savior. You are the one who can help me. You are the one who can work in my life. Jesus, Son of David. We need to approach Jesus in the same way. Realizing, Jesus, you are the Savior. You are the answer. You are the one that I need. Recognizing that He is

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Is the only one who can help us. But then as we call out to Jesus. Following his example. What we must ask for is mercy. Ask for mercy. We should not. We cannot approach Jesus. Demanding something. Commanding something. This is what you must do. This is what I want. We must come to him for mercy. We can't come to him on the basis of. Well God. You know.

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I went to church and I read my Bible and I've been really faithful. And so here's what you need to do. We can't come on the basis of our worth or what we've done. We need to come to Jesus and ask for mercy. Have mercy on me. Then also we need to cry out to Jesus like this blind man did. There's a passion involved. There's a real engagement here as he's calling out to Jesus.

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We need to follow that example. And as we cry out to the Lord about those blind spots or that blindness in our lives, it needs to be real. We need to be fully engaged in this. Looking to Jesus saying, you're our only hope. You're our Savior. Have mercy. And I really want you to do this. I really believe that you can do this. I really know that you want to work in my life and you want to give me sight.

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We need to be engaged in the same degree, in the same level. Crying out. And when we're not hearing, when it's not working, crying out all the more. You see, the thing is, blindness itself isn't the issue. We all have blindness. The real issue is the failure to recognize the blindness. To insist, no, I'm not blind, that's a big issue.

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To insist, no, that can't be going on. I understand what's happening. I have spiritual insight. I read the Bible. And so, you know, it can't be that way. That's an issue. It's also an issue to turn aside to other things to try to help resolve your blindness. But the blindness itself is not the issue. The issue is, what are you turning to to help you resolve that blindness? Now think about this, okay? Again, this guy calls out, cries out to Jesus, right?

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Think about the will of God for your life. Where do you look to find out God's will for your life? Where do you look to make decisions? When you're like, I wonder what I'm supposed to do here. What is the course I'm supposed to take? Do you Google it? So let me do some research. Let me figure out what's best. And then I'll go that direction that I figure out that I think is the best. Do you Google it? Or do you cry out to Jesus? Now Jesus might tell you to Google it.

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But you got to let him direct you. You got to cry out to him. We need to start there. Let him. Jesus, there's lots of things that I could do, but what do you want me to do? Well, you have an issue in your life. You have an issue in your marriage. Where do you go to try to figure out how do I resolve this? How do I set this right? How do I get this in the right direction? You can run to people. You can run to, you know, TV personalities and talk shows or

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Things you can find online, you can read some books, you can do lots of things. But what are you crying out to Jesus? Saying, Jesus, you're the Savior, you're what I need, have mercy on me. And when you're not seeing it happen, then cry out all the more, Jesus, you're the one that I need, have mercy on me. That I might see, that I might have sight, that you might show me what you want and what is necessary for this situation. Amen.

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There was a time in my life where I walked away from the Lord. And as it was happening, I didn't realize it. I didn't recognize what was going on. But I had people in my life, people like Pastor Tom, other godly people who loved me, who were speaking to me and saying, you're going in a bad direction. These steps that you're taking, this is not right. This is not what God wants for you. But I was blind to it.

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I was convinced. No, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. This is where I'm supposed to be going. This is what I need. I didn't see it. I was blind and other people were telling me I'm blind, but I didn't believe them. I insisted. No, I can see. I know what I'm doing. I'm okay. I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Instead of doing that, what I should have been doing is crying out to Jesus for mercy. Because here's the godly people who love me

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We're saying, this is what we see and we can tell that you're not seeing clearly. But instead of crying out to Jesus to address this issue of blindness because my sight didn't match their sight, I just insisted that I was right and I went forward and I made a big mess. Jesus is the one that we need to turn to. We need to be crying out to Jesus and to keep crying out louder and louder, more and more, that we might see Jesus.

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That you might receive your sight. Because Jesus can heal. He can open our eyes. He can reveal to us what is going on. He can reveal to us what's in our hearts. He wants to reveal to us His will, His plans. He wants to lead us and direct us. So cry out to Jesus. And keep on crying out. Well, in the last two verses, we see point number three. And that is glorify God for your sight.

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When Jesus responds and heals you, and now you can see where you were once blind, make sure that you glorify God for your sight and not yourself. Check out verse 42. Then Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. Jesus answers and says, you got it. I'm having mercy. I'm showing you compassion. You've cried out that you might receive your sight and

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So receive it. You have it. He says, your faith has made you well. The faith of the blind man is evident. Because he calls Jesus the son of David. He has faith. He believes that Jesus is the savior. His faith made him well. Because he believes the truth. That Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, the savior.

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His faith is also evident in that he asked for mercy and not alms. He was there begging, but as he has this face-to-face encounter with Jesus, he doesn't ask for money. He asks for mercy. Have mercy on me. Show me compassion. I need you to be merciful to me. That's faith. He's recognizing who Jesus is and what he can do.

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He says that I may receive my sight. Have mercy on me so that I can see. He doesn't say heal me because, you know, I go to the temple all the time. He says, no, have mercy on me that I might see. He believes in Jesus. So in verse 43 it says, And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people when they saw it gave praise to God. He received his sight.

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His request answered. His blindness removed. And so what does he do? It says, he followed Jesus. When you cry out to the Lord, because there's an issue of blindness, whether it's an issue in your heart, it's an issue in your life, it's an issue in

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Whatever it might be. Or maybe it's a spiritual blindness. Or maybe some biblical truth that you're wrestling with and you don't get it. You don't understand it. But you're crying out to Jesus. When He heals you, as you cry out to Him for mercy, when He works and brings the revelation so that you can see, learn from this blind man's example and first of all, follow Jesus. Follow Jesus. Follow Jesus.

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Sometimes people are healed, they receive their sight, but they don't use that sight to draw near to the Lord. They use it to pursue other things. Follow Jesus. Draw near to Him. Get closer to Him. But then also it says that He was glorifying God. He was glorifying the Father. When you receive your sight, don't take the credit. Don't take the credit. Give God the glory for the revelation.

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Give God the glory for the work that he's done. You don't see because you figured it out. If you have any spiritual insight or understanding, it's not because you're smart. Give God the glory. In the same way, hey, if you're blessed by anything that I share, then know that it's not from me. Give God the glory. It's him at work. If I have any insight in the scriptures, it's because he gave it to me.

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Now, if I really discourage you, then you can know that that's from me. I don't have sight because I can see. I have sight because he's had mercy. Glorify God when he gives you sight. And so as you're telling people, well, yeah, here's what was happening in my life and here's the mess I was in and then I, and then I, and then I also, and then the other thing I did was, no, no, no, no.

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Give God the glory. Here's what God told me. Here's what God said. Here's how God worked. I cried out to the Lord and He answered me. And He set my feet upon the rock. Give God the glory when He works. And the result is all the people when they saw it gave praise to God. Give God the glory and you'll cause the people to praise Him and glorify Him as well.

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And so this morning we see the example of the disciples and the example of the blind man. And through this, the Lord is speaking to us, receive your sight. Receive your sight. First of all, realize your need for sight. You have blindness. You have blind spots. And God wants to give you sight. He wants to help you see. You know, there's a saying, there are none so blind as

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As those who refuse to see. Don't be like that. Don't refuse to see. Recognize. Realize. Yeah there are issues. There are things I'm missing. And I'm missing out on things. There's areas that I'm hurting people. I'm causing harm. I'm destroying myself. There's issues that God wants to address. So cry out to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus. And if you're thinking. I don't know that I'm blind. No.

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I don't really know if I have any blind spots. Well, let some people close to you. Let them tell you. Allow them to say, hey, you're blind. You're missing this. You're missing that. There's this issue. You're not swinging correctly. You could improve in this way. You could grow in this way. Now, if you are that person who's helping somebody else, remember what Jesus said. Remove the plank from your eye first before you help them with the speck in their eye.

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Why did he say that? Because often we're blind to the big old plank in our own eye. So you got to check your heart first before you share these things. But let other people in. Let other people let you know when there's that kind of blindness going on. Or if you can see enough, you know that there's an issue. So you know you're blind. Then cry out to Jesus. Ask Jesus for your sight.

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Or if you're in that spot where you used to see and you recognize now, yeah, I don't see like I used to see. I don't hear from Him like I used to hear from Him. You need to cry out to Jesus. And as He responds, give Him the glory. One last thought to share from Mark chapter 4 verse 34. You don't have to turn there. But it's talking about how Jesus taught in parables. But then it goes on to say, Mark explains this.

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When he was alone with his disciples, he explained all things. In the crowd, in the multitude, he spoke in parables. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained all things. Listen, the cure for blindness is time alone with Jesus. That's what we need. We need time alone with Jesus. Calling out to him, crying out for mercy.

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And as you spend time with Jesus, He will explain all things. And you will receive your sight. So Lord Jesus, as we consider these things, we do look to you and we ask that you would have mercy on us. Lord, we do have issues of blindness. We do have blind spots in our lives. They cause damage and they hurt people. They hurt us. But we don't see it. We're missing it. And so Lord, help us.

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First of all, to realize our need to see. To realize that we do have those issues, those things that we're blind to. Help us, God, to not be so proud to insist that we don't have these issues or blind spots. Instead, Lord, help us to cry out to you. And Jesus, as we cry out to you this morning, as each one cries out to you with their own specific situations, their own conditions of their hearts,

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Jesus, I pray that you would have mercy on us. That you would help us to see. That you would restore our sight. That we would have clarity. In all these situations that we're presenting to you right now, that we would have clarity. That you would show us and reveal yourself to us. That we might know your will. That we might know the steps that we need to take. That we might know the things that we must repent of. That we might know you.

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You would reveal Yourself to us so clearly. Help us, Lord, to see You. Open our eyes, we pray. And God, help us as You do that work to not take the credit, but to glorify You. Because You are incredibly gracious and merciful to us. And You work in our hearts even when we don't deserve it. Help us to never forget that. That we would glorify Your name for Your work in us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.