Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Alright friends, we are back at it tonight in the Gospel of Luke.

If you have your bibles with you, go ahead and turn to Luke 18 tonight.

Every week I sort of recap where we’ve been in the gospel of Luke, give you an overview of the chapters we covered, and then remind you why we are in the gospel of Luke.

And tonight, I want to put just a little more emphasis on why we are in the gospel of Luke.

If you’ll remember from the previous times that I’ve recapped, I told you we are in the gospel to not only learn what Jesus taught, but to learn about Jesus himself.

Because…if we say we follow Christ, and we call our selves disciples, or christians, then it is good for us to have an understanding of who Christ is.

Tonight, I particularly wanted to bring that purpose back to your minds…because that’s the crux of this message tonight… understanding a little more of who Jesus is.

In fact, that’s the title of tonight’s message.

Jesus Is...

And the reason for this purpose tonight is that our passage reveals quite a bit about Jesus.

Not only because of what is said about it…but because what he does.

Let me show you what I mean, I’ll read the text, you follow along.

Like I said, we will see more of who Jesus is tonight not only because of what he does…but because of what is said about him.

Especially in those first three verses.

In verses 35-38, we see that Jesus is..

Jesus is the Davidic King

Now, I know this may not mean a whole bunch to some of you at the moment…but let me show you how awesome it is that this blind beggar addresses Jesus as the “son of David”.

You see it right there in verse 38, people call him Jesus of Nazareth…we will get to that in a moment…but the beggar cries out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

If you aren’t too familiar with God’s plan of redemption through the covenants…you might be saying..wait a minute, I thought Jesus was the son of Joseph the carpenter?

Or…I thought Jesus was the son of God…not some dude in the old testament.

To that I say…yes, and no.

Let me show you.

I want you to turn in your bibles to 2 Samuel, chapter 7.

This one is an important one…so instead of putting it on the screens…I want you to see it in your own bibles and to maybe take some notes on it if you’re that kind of person.

In this passage, 2 Samuel 7, we have the prophet Nathan going to speak to King David.

That’s the same David from David and Goliath, the same David that wrote a large chunk of the Psalms, David who was the father of Solomon who collected and wrote many of the proverbs…and the same David who was called a man after God’s own heart.

That’s who the prophet Nathan is going to speak to…and he has a message from God to give to David.

Let’s look at it.

There’s some awesome things that God promises David in this passage…and here they are.

A great name (v.8-9)

A place of peace for God’s people (v.10-11)

A son who’s throne will last forever (v.12-14)

God’s eternal faithful love through this son (v.13-16)

Now, I know that I’m going through this kind of quickly…and that’s because we have other points in our passage tonight to see…but it is important that you see this right here right now.

If you have any questions about this, come find me or send an email and I can give you deeper resources to help understand this better…but for now…this is a good overview.

And what is it that we are seeing?

Namely…that hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born…God promised something to the people of God through Nathan to King David.

And he promised, that someone would come to the people of God, through David, that would be a great name, bring peace for God’s people, would reign forever, and would carry God’s faithful and everlasting love.

And guys.

David had a son…his name was Solomon.

And not all these things were true about it…Solomon died.

The kingdom of Israel split after his death.

So clearly, Solomon wasn’t the answer to God’s promise to David…and what did that mean for the people of God?

It meant…that for hundreds of years…the people of God were waiting for God to make good on his promise.

For hundreds of years…they were looking, searching, hoping, and praying that the true son of David…the true King…the true chosen one that God would call his own son…would show up.

Year after year, generation after generation, false prophet after false prophet…each time, the people of God hoping that this would be the true son of David…and time and time again…it not happening.

Until…until Jesus.

And if you’re wondering…how do we know Jesus was the son of David, and not just some rando…I want to show you.

We don’t have time to read through this entire passage, but I’ll show you in my bible.

Matthew 1.

The very beginning of the New Testament…what do we see?

A genealogy.

And what does this genealogy show?

The genealogy of Jesus Christ…from David…to Jesus.

And see what it says in verse 17 right here on the screen?

Matthew 1:17 (ESV)

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

What did we just see here?

We just saw that Jesus is the fulfillment of a covenant and prophecy given hundreds of years before he was ever born.

We just saw God work through the course of history to accomplish his purpose and will...

Jesus is the Davidic King...

And what should our response be to understanding that?

Be amazed.

Soak it in…reflect on it…and as an application point…just let your heart and mind be filled with the wonder of God in being able to bring that to pass…and be amazed that there is so much historical evidence to prove Jesus is who he says he is.

So…back to our passage tonight…this blind beggar what does he do?.

In Luke 18.

So this blind beggar asks what is going on…and what do people call Jesus?

They call him Jesus of Nazareth…aka.

Just a guy.

First and last name.

That’s what that was.

Who is this guy?

John smith.

Albeit, a John Smith who can heal, and preach, lead people…but John Smith.

And in response to hearing that Jesus is there…what does this blind beggar call him?

What does this beggar do, in 8 words?

What he does, in 8 simple words…is not call Jesus just someone from Nazareth…but instead…calls him Jesus…son of David.

Meaning, Jesus…the son of God, the long awaited one…the promised one, the king forever, the messiah…the Christ.

In 8 words....this beggar says all that needs to be said....Jesus, you are the chosen son of God come to save God’s people…and I’m begging that you have mercy on me.

What we need to realize, is that this plea isn’t just a plea for healing…but it’s also a confession of faith.

A confession that Jesus is the son of God and that this man needs his mercy.

And he doesn’t just simply say it…but he pleas.

He pleas with his whole heart.

Look back at verse 39.

This man is so convicted by what he believes…and who he believes Jesus is…that he doesn’t care that the crowd around him tells him to shut it…he knows what he needs and who he’s calling out to…he’s calling out the Davidic King…the long awaited one…and he doesn’t care who hears it…and this…this is the right thing to do.

Because how does Jesus respond?

With mercy.

That’s the second thing we learn about Jesus today…not only his he the Davidic King…but he’s full of mercy.

Jesus is Full of Mercy (v.39-42)

This poor beggar cries out to Jesus to have mercy…and Jesus does just that.

He has mercy upon him.

Now the biblical understanding of mercy is this.

Mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.

It is within Christ’s power to allow harm to continue to come to this man through his blindness…but in mercy…in compassion…and in forgiveness…Christ takes that away from him.

Christ is merciful.

And he’s merciful to those who have faith.

Look at what he says at the end of verse 42…”you faith has made you well”.

Meaning…that faith in Christ as the Davidic King, faith in Christ as the son of God, was the vehicle God used to show his mercy towards this blind beggar.

So, what we learn in this passage is that Jesus is Full of Mercy.