Transcript
Luke chapter 18. And we want to begin reading at verse 31. Luke 18:31.
When 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. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.’
But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.
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.
The scary adventure of little eight-year-old Cody Gibbs began one afternoon last month. It was Monday, November the 15th. And Cody was riding home on a school bus from the Lincoln Elementary School in Pryor, Oklahoma.
On this particular day he wasn’t sitting in his usual spot on the bus. And some taller kids were kind of blocking his view. As a result he missed his stop, which was at a daycare center about four miles east of his house.
When he realized that he had missed his stop he was too embarrassed to say anything to the bus driver. And so he just simply rode on to the next stop, which happened to be six miles further east.
Without saying a word to the driver he got out at that stop. But then he was too scared to ask anybody for help or directions. So he started off in the direction that he thought his home was in.
After a while he picked up a very comforting companion. A golden retriever that began to follow him. Cody soon named the dog Shadow. And Shadow did his part by driving off a couple of hounds that were approaching Cody.
But Cody plodded on, not talking to anybody. And as the temperature fell that night, falling into the 40s, he only stopped to secure the hood of his coat and to rest. He was afraid to go up to any door and to knock at the door for fear that someone would grab him and kidnap him.
It’s too bad that kids have to worry about that. But that’s something they do have to worry about in our day and time.
Meanwhile his mother, Rita Gibbs, had reported him missing about 5 p.m. A search team was organized in which eight agencies took part. They did a very thorough search of the area around Cody’s house. And then they moved their command post to a distance to the northeast.
Rita Gibbs was at the command post monitoring the progress of the search. Cody was reported to have been seen at a soccer field, at a grocery store, at a parking lot. But he wasn’t located until shortly before midnight when a police unit from Pryor caught sight of him and Shadow.
They picked them up. Cody was still ten miles away from his home. But coincidentally he was only two hundred yards from the command post where his mother was monitoring the search.
You can imagine that their reunion was extremely joyful. And his mother said it was the happiest moment of her life. And she added, “He didn’t say very much at first because he was so cold. When I asked him if he was cold he said yes. When I asked him if he was hungry his face lit up.”
And as soon as Cody said that he was hungry there was somebody there with a pizza for Cody.
My guess is that one of the best things you can do for a kid who’s been lost and cold and hungry is to offer them a warm and delicious piece of pizza.
Now even though this story has a happy ending I think most of us would agree that Cody made a mistake in not saying something to the bus driver who could have guided him or carried him back to his home. And probably he made a mistake not asking for any directions after he got off the bus, at least in the grocery store where he was.
As a result he wandered around for all of those hours. And little eight-year-old Cody Gibbs was flying blind.
But did you know that a whole lot of adults do exactly the same thing when it comes to living their life in this world? They’re a whole lot like a sailor lost at sea without a compass. They act a lot like a pilot flying through a night sky without instruments. They are flying blind. They are flying blind.
And because that could possibly be true of somebody in the audience this morning I’d like to give you a very urgent exhortation. And the exhortation is this: Get it straight. Do it right.
And you probably already guessed that my exhortation is also the title of my message to you this morning. Get it straight. Do it right.
Some of you have heard me tell how years ago when I was visiting the land of Israel as part of a tour group, one afternoon while we were in Jerusalem and had some time off, I decided to take a tour through the old city of Jerusalem all by myself.
I want you to know that stepping into the old city of Jerusalem is a little bit like stepping out of a time machine. You feel like you have been transported at least a thousand years into the past.
You see the old city is that one section of the modern city of Jerusalem. It is surrounded by old, old walls which I understand were built in the days of the crusaders.
When you walk down the streets of old Jerusalem you’re walking down narrow streets, kind of gloomy, paved with stuff like cobblestones. And you’re walking past the stalls and the stands of Arabs dressed as Arabs have dressed for centuries. And you see all the things that they are selling: the trinkets, the silks, the big old hunks of raw meat just hanging there ready for someone to buy them.
And you really do feel like you’re no longer in the twentieth century.
And I was really enjoying my stroll through old Jerusalem until all of a sudden I woke up to the fact that I had wandered off the main street. And I was in one of the back streets of the city.
There was not a tourist in sight. And the only people that I could see were some swarthy-looking Arabs who didn’t look too nice. And the thought crossed my mind, “I bet they’re going to see me as a wealthy American tourist. And who knows, they may try to rob me.”
Wouldn’t that have made a great headline in the Dallas Morning News? “Dallas preacher mugged on the streets of old Jerusalem.”
Well for a while there folks I was really flying blind. I didn’t know which way was in and which way was out.
You can imagine my relief when I finally found an exit out of the old city and got out onto a big street which was thronged with tourists. And I made up my mind right there and then I would never take a tour of the old city again unless I had a guide who knew what he was doing.
I was lost for a while. And I think maybe, just maybe, I can sympathize with the twelve disciples who were definitely lost. They were definitely, definitely out of it in the passage of Scripture that we read just a few moments ago.
You see on one occasion the Lord Jesus Christ called together His twelve disciples. And He was going to give them some very significant, some very crucial information which should have served to give them a sense of direction and purpose.
And Jesus said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that the prophets have written about the Son of Man will be accomplished. He will be delivered to the Gentiles. He will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”
Now you know what He got out of the disciples after He said that? Blank stares. Puzzled expressions. Nothing. That Jesus said had computed for them.
And Luke is very emphatic in telling us that they did not know any of the things that He said. And the saying was hid from them, says Luke. And they did not understand any of those things which were spoken. They were out of it.
Now I can just hear somebody saying, “Hey, what was wrong with these guys? I mean how simple can you get? I mean Jesus is telling them that He’s going to die and be suffering and rise from the dead. I mean that’s plain enough. What’s wrong with these guys?”
Hey, did you notice something? Jesus didn’t actually say, “I am going to be delivered to the Gentiles. I am going to be insulted. I’m going to be killed. I’m going to rise again the third day.” He didn’t really say that.
He said, “The Son of Man will be delivered to the Gentiles. The Son of Man will be insulted and killed and will rise again the third day.”
Now I’m sure that the disciples had often heard Him use the title “Son of Man.” And maybe they even figured out sometimes that He was talking about Himself. But not this time. Not this time.
And I suspect the disciples were so convinced that Jesus was just about to become a king, that He was just about to claim the throne of David and rule over the nation of Israel, that when He talked about suffering, when He talked about death, they couldn’t imagine that He was talking about Himself. They couldn’t figure it out.
And the bottom line, my friends, is this. That the disciples were blind to the cross of Christ. They were blind to the impending sufferings and death of the Son of God. They were totally, totally out of it.
Do I need to tell you that when it comes to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ there are millions of people who are every bit as blind as the disciples were?
Fanny Crosby was one of the great hymn writers of the Christian church. She wrote more than eight thousand gospel hymns. Many of them great favorites that we sing all the time.
But at the age of six weeks Fanny Crosby was blinded. And she lived her entire life as a blind woman.
On one occasion a minister was talking to her. And the minister said to her, “I think it is a pity that the Master has not given you the gift of sight when He has showered on you all these other gifts.”
And immediately Fanny Crosby replied, “Do you know that if I could have made one request when I was born I would have asked that I should be born blind?”
The minister said, “Why? Why?”
And Fanny Crosby replied, “Because this way the first face that will ever gladden my sight will be the face of my Savior.”
Did you know folks that you are singing the words of Fanny Crosby when you sing “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”?
And did you know that you’re singing Fanny Crosby’s words when you sing “I am Thine, O Lord. I have heard Thy voice and it told Thy love to me. And I long to rise in the arms of faith and to be closer drawn to Thee”?
“Drawn nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Drawn nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to Thyself now glorified.”
Was Fanny Crosby blind only physically? She had 20/20 vision when it came to seeing her Savior and understanding the worth and meaning of His cross.
And mark it well. There are many Christians who do not have Fanny Crosby’s eyesight even though they have 20/20 physical vision.
Oh yes, they know that when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross He died for their sins. They know that what He did on the cross is all that needs to be done to get them to heaven. They have believed in Him for the free gift of eternal life.
And they know that the Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
But if you were to ask them, “What impact does the cross of Christ have on your life each and every day?” you know what? They’d be confused. They’d be puzzled. They would be blind.
Here were the twelve disciples, my friends, about to follow Jesus Christ to the foot of the cross. And they didn’t know what in the world they were doing.
So did you notice what happened next? Did you notice that as soon as these words were spoken by Jesus, so puzzling and so confusing, that one of the disciples spoke up and he said, “Lord, we really do not understand what you have said. Would you please explain what it is that you’re telling us”?
What’s that you say? You didn’t notice that? What’s that you say? It’s not in your Bibles?
Well folks if it’s not in your Bibles I guess it didn’t happen.
Do you realize that what should have happened next didn’t happen next? And there is no report at all that the disciples, blind as they were, requested any help to see what Jesus meant.
What happened next? Nothing happened next. And before we know it we’re reading a different story. We’re reading about a blind man who was sitting at the roadside in the city of Jericho.
But hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Maybe there is more connection between these stories than we thought.
There are twelve men who are spiritually blind to the significance of the cross. And here is one man who is physically blind.
And I want you to notice the very striking difference between these twelve disciples and the blind man in Jericho.
We discovered from the Gospel of Mark that his name was Bartimaeus. And of course he was a beggar. I mean this was a long time before they had anything like disability insurance or Social Security or Medicare.
And if you were poor and blind just about the best career you could look forward to was a career in begging.
But I want you to notice that this poor blind beggar was also a man of great curiosity. And one day he noticed that the city was more full of people than it usually was. And so he asked some questions.
And he discovered that Jesus of Nazareth was in the city that day. He was passing through. And he was going to pass by the road at which this blind man was sitting.
And I’ll tell you something. He had no physical vision. But he could see an opportunity. He could see an opportunity when one passed his way.
And furthermore he was a man of faith. Because he understood that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Son of David. The one that God had promised to send into the nation of Israel to be Israel’s Savior and King.
And as soon as he got the necessary information folks he began to cry out. And I’m sure he was at the top of his lungs, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And he probably cried it over and over again.
And the noise he was causing disturbed some of the people. And they tried to quiet him down. And maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t treated too politely. Maybe they said to him, “Shut up, my man. Keep quiet. You pitiful beggar. Jesus doesn’t have time for a miserable wretch like you. Be quiet. Be quiet.”
But hey, this blind man knew his opportunity was there. And the Bible tells us that when they tried to quiet him down he cried out all the more. He cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Do you see it? Do you see the contrast between this man and the twelve disciples?
The twelve disciples had listened to Jesus speak words to which they were blind. And they didn’t say a thing. They didn’t ask for help.
And here is a physically blind man who knows that Jesus is going to pass him by. And they can’t keep him quiet folks. Because his opportunity for sight is there.
Now listen. One of the reasons that we are often blind to the significance of the cross of Christ for our daily life and experience, one of the reasons we are blind, is because we never ask Jesus for eyesight.
There is a very beautiful story about a poor girl, a blind girl, who lived in the nation of France. And on one occasion she was given a copy of the Gospel of Mark which was written in raised letters.
With her very sensitive fingers she was able to read the Gospel of Mark over and over again. But then eventually her fingers began to lose their sense of feeling. And finally she couldn’t read the Gospel of Mark anymore.
And she was distressed. And she picked up the book that had become so precious to her. She was weeping. And she pressed it to her lips and she said, “Farewell, farewell, O word of my heavenly Father.”
And then she made an amazing discovery. She discovered that her lips were more sensitive than her fingertips. And that with her lips she could make out the form of the letters.
And she spent all night, my friends, reading the Gospel of Mark with her lips. And thanking God that He had opened to her this door of new communication.
How embarrassing, don’t you agree? How embarrassing. I mean do you realize that there are Christians who have 20/20 vision and they don’t even have to wear glasses like I do, like some of the rest of you do?
And they have a Bible at home folks. And guess what? It’s written in English. And they know how to read. And the Bible is closed week after week after week.
You know why we are so blind to what God wants us to understand about the relationship of His cross to our daily life? It is because we won’t open the Bible. And we won’t ask God to give us insight, to give us vision, and to take away any blindness in our heart.
But not the blind man in Jericho.
Finally his cries reached the ears of Jesus. Jesus stopped. And He commanded that the blind man be brought to Him.
And when the blind man approached Him Jesus asked him to tell Him exactly what he wanted. Now the blind man had been crying out for mercy. But now he tells Jesus exactly what he wants.
Jesus says, “What is it that you want Me to do for you?”
Very simply the blind man says, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.”
And immediately his eyes are opened. Immediately sight is restored.
And what do you suppose happens next, friends? He starts to follow Jesus just like the twelve disciples were doing.
And the Bible says he followed Him, glorifying God, as he walked along that path behind Jesus Christ. His lips were overflowing with praises to the God who had opened his eyes.
And as people watched him the Bible says everyone who saw these things gave praise to God.
Are you listening? Will you listen very closely to what I’m about to say?
If your eyes are really open to the significance of the cross of Christ it will inspire you to follow Him through your life and to glorify his name.
Folks let’s get one thing straight. That’s what life is all about. Following Jesus Christ and giving glory to God.
And if we do it right, if we do it right, then other people will see what God has done for us. And they too will glorify God.
In 1959 in the very hottest days of August there was a power failure in New York City. Air conditioners went out. Fans went out. All kinds of electrical equipment went out.
The people who suffered the most were people who worked in the upstairs parts of tall buildings. Because when everything went off they found that they were in pitch darkness. And the elevators weren’t operating.
But there was one building in which things were different. Because in this particular building, my friends, there was the headquarters of the Guild for the Jewish Blind.
And when the lights went out the two hundred blind workers in those offices led the seventy sighted workers down the long dark stairwells. Where they knew every part of the building by touch they led the sighted workers down the stairwells and out into the light on Broadway.
What a role reversal. Blind men and blind women leading sighted people out of darkness and into light.
And yet, my friends, in the history of the Christian church there have been many blind men and women who knew more about navigating through the dark corridors of this life than many Christians who have 20/20 vision.
Fanny Crosby is only one of those. But she’s a classic example. Who could compute the total amount of praise and worship and glory that she’s brought to God through the eight thousand hymns that she wrote and which have been sung from the heart and from the lips of millions of people?
And in closing I want to suggest to you that Fanny Crosby gave us the real secret of her life when she wrote these very lovely and familiar words.
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite mercy. His child and forever I am.
I think of my blessed Redeemer. I think of Him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song.
I know I shall see in His beauty the King in whose law I delight. Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me songs in the night.
Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am.
Tell me, Christian friends. Is that what life really means to you? Is it? Is it?
And if not here’s my advice. Get it straight. Do it right.
Shall we pray?
Father, in so far as You have opened our eyes to the meaning of the cross we thank You. But wherever there is any blindness in any heart in this audience teach us to see what we do not see. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.