A Few Blind Men

If you have a copy of the Word of God this morning open it up to Matthew 9…. I have titled the message this morning.. A Few Blind Men. Pray with me.

Man again we are presented with a incredible miracle from Jesus Christ in the text. I want to get into quickly this morning, and there is much to say from it. It reads as the following…

Matthew 9:27–34 ESV

27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” 31 But they went away and spread his fame through all that district. 32 As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

So my main idea today for this sermon is this..

To truly see you must place your faith in Jesus Christ.

Amen. Amen.

So few points to add to that this morning the first is…

To have true faith you must ask for mercy.

Just like we have seen over the past few weeks there has been some desperation from those whom want to be healed by Jesus. In fact we see two blind men in this very text. say… Have mercy on us.. Son of David.

Now I believe these men see something that others have not seen yet, and that is the fact that Jesus is not just some miracle worker, but that he is the messiah he son of GOd. . Why can I say that because unlike many of the others who approached Jesus in desperation like this men, they recognize him as the Son of David. And friends that is not something you can quickly read over without seeing the significance of it in this text. These men who are blind who cannot see are seeing the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of the David. They have real faith, because their faith is lying in Christ..

In fact Matthew starts his gospel by saying this in verse 1 of chapter 1. Matthew 1:1

Matthew 1:1 ESV

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Its important fact that Jesus is the son of David because he is the fulfillment of the promises that God made to David that he would have an heir who would reign forever. And these men placed their faith in God in the son of David in order to see that very truth.

Now something else I do not want you to miss is the real issues that blind people had back then. In fact over these past two chapters healing those whom are extremely marginalized has been the theme so far. Blind men where typically beggars they needed others to take care of them. In fact one of the commentators I was reading reminded me of a few things. It said… In Old Testament times, while God's people were to be considerate and compassionate to the blind (e.g., Leviticus 19:14), nevertheless, every example of someone becoming blind is in the context of their being judged/punished for sin (cf. Deuteronomy 28:28). Think of the Sodomites knocking on Lot's door. They were "struck with blindness" (Genesis 19:11). Or think of the Syrians who were attacking God's people. Elisha prayed to the Lord, "Please strike this people with blindness. So he [the Lord] struck them with blindness" (2 Kings 6:18). Or think of Samson and how his eyes, due to his sin, were gouged out (Judges 16:21). He died blind.

In the New Testament, although Jesus' healing of the blind man in John 9 shows that blindness is not always related to sin, other texts like Acts 9:8 (cf. 13:11)-Paul's temporary blindness-reminds us that sometimes it is. Sin always has consequences. Sometimes those consequences manifest themselves physically.

All that to say, there might be more to this plea for mercy than a cure for blindness, They might be confessing their sin and repenting of a sin or series of sins that has caused their blindness. "Jesus, have mercy on us- body and soul."

Now, if that's not right if it is only physical blindness is on their minds-Matthew nevertheless wants us to think more spiritually. For like the paralytic brought to Jesus at the beginning of chapter 9, their biggest need and our biggest need—blind or not blind—is God's merciful forgiveness of sins, Jesus didn't die to make nice people even nicer. He didn't die just to show us how to sacrifice for others. Jesus died to demonstrate God's hatred toward sin and mercy toward sinners, sin-blinded sinners like you and me... and them.

And as we read in the text I see that Jesus at first just passes them by did you catch that he was headed into a home, he might of not wanted the crowds to see him do this miracle, maybe he wanted a true confession of faith and the blind men confessed something to Jesus here, as Jesus asks them a question. Do you believe I am able to do this.. Notice what he said do you believe I am catch that. He is questioning them asking them do you think I can do this, and the answer demonstrates real faith. They say Yes Lord.

So what does Jesus do well he touches their eyes, and he said according to your faith be it done to you. And their eyes were opened.

I love these words here… in fact I think about all those who have been born blind who trust in Christ to one day see his face when they can finally see, these men could have been blind for a few years maybe even their whole life and what an image it would be to see your savior remove the blindness for your eyes.

That is what he does when he saves us he removes the blindness and gives us sight. But don’t miss what he says after and that it leads to my next point today.

2nd point is this..

Do not come to Christ only to be saved, and not to obey.

Look at verse 30 and 31.

Matthew 9:30–31 ESV

30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” 31 But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.

I thought of all of us in this room, my friends who profess Christ as well this is to often us. Jesus will radically do something in our lives like cure of of spiritual blindness or even real blindness, or free us from addictions or sinful habits and then we go away and do something he asks us not to. thats convicting isn't it.

Friends these are people who professed Jesus and I hope we are people who profess Jesus, but we should not come to Christ only to be saved and that its, we come to Christ to be saved and to be radically changed.

Too often this includes myself we have the confidence like this blind men do that Jesus is the Lord he is the Son of David he can take away my sins. we can sing songs, and hymns and know our verses and yet don’t obey him. I thought of it like this. Lord we believe you can save us from our sin, but we don’t have the faith to live a life free from sin. I think Matthew is rebuking these men here.

And you might say why do you say that only because Jesus said don’t do it, and they did it anyway. If Jesus is going to be your Lord you have to walk and live by faith and obedience. There is a warning to me in this text that should be a warning to you in this text that if Jesus is telling you to do something just do it.

In fact 1 John 2:3 tells us this…

1 John 2:3 ESV

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

One of the commentators blew me away with a one liner. He said So, perhaps the point of verse 31 is that is better to be blind and obedient than to see and disobey. Ouch

should I read that again I am going to. perhaps the point of verse 31 is that is better to be blind and obedient than to see and disobey.

Friends if you are struggling with being obedient to Christ you need ask yourself why that is, because the reality is if he has saved you you are his, and I know to often myself I am disobedient yet I have faith. I have faith that Jesus saved me, but I am not always obedient I am sure most of us would agree with that. That is not how God created it to be for us though.

Even thinking over some of the great principles the bible teaches us like the 10 commands and say you know We believe you can save us but we are going to have other gods before you. We are going to place things in your place. Better yet… we are going to be people who say there is more than one way no we can’’t be that way.

or we can say believe in Christ as Lord yet we are going to make you into a idol I are going to twist your word your truth and make you who we want you to be. That is a danger many people toy with.

we cannot be like we believe in Christ yet we are go and take his name in vain we are going to drag his name through the mud. By the way we speak or live.

we cannot be like you are our Lord yet we are not to honor our mother and father..

we cannot be like we believe yet we are going to kill we are going to murder to slaughter the unborn, we are going to harm others.

We are not going to say we believe and yet cheat on our spouses. Be unfaithful to them.

We are not going to say we believe yet steal from others.

We are not going to say we believe yet we are going to lie about our neighbors or be gossips,

We are not going to say we believe yet we are coveting others and what they have.

See the point I am making here Christ came to save us so we should obey him, and obey this word, you have to know it you have to live it and friends you do that because he has cured you from your own blindness. Moving on this morning our Third point is this…

You can see who Jesus is yet be blind.

Let me read you those verses again.

Matthew 9:32–34 ESV

32 As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

So the text transitions from healing the blind to exposing the blind. Along Jesus journey here a man who was oppressed by a demon who was mute was brought to Jesus Christ and it appears that this miracle was done for more than just man, but to expose the blindness of the pharisees. In verse 33. Matthew highlights the fact that never was anything like this seen in Isreal. This event was truly incredible.

One commentator said. But what do the Pharisees do? They do something almost unbelievable. They don't marvel. That's for sure. They don't believe. That's for sure. Instead, having seen with their own eyes Jesus heal the leper, the lame, the blind, this mute man, and also having seen a demon cast out of this man, they accuse Jesus of demonic activity, of working for the devil (of. 12:24).

Instead of remembering their Holy Scriptures-like Isaiah 35:5-6 which says..

Isaiah 35:5–6 ESV

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

The commentator would go on to say.. These texts of the healing of the blind and deaf mutes were predicted in the Messianic age and thus recognizing Jesus as the Messiah-they are blind to God's Word and thus blind to God's Son. Do you see that?

The centurion shows that Gentiles can see Jesus for who he is. The tax collector Matthew shows that sinners can also see him. And then, irony of ironies, even blind men see Jesus as Lord and Christ.

But these Jewish religious elites are completely blind. The blind see, the mute speak, but the Pharisees speak out of their blindness.

Friends today we see all this quote on quote elite people who claim they know it all know all the science behind everything they claim to know what real morality is and they have all the facts but just like the pharisees they are blind and sometimes God blinds.

Romans 1 which I preached on awhile back says this.

Romans 1:18–31 (ESV)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ( Think about all the pharisees did not want Jesus words to be true because if they were they would have to change everything about their lives.. Today people are so blind to the truth that they suppress it. Verse 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ( Jesus showed the pharisees all these mighty works, and they call him a demon.. The world is exposed to God and his word yet they do not believe… Verse 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Verse21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. This is what sin does it exchanges the glorious truths of God for a lie…

Verse 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Verse 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

And I would add to that blind.. John MacArthur said..But the Pharisees said” – you can mark a little asterisk in your Bible, because here is where the hatred of Jesus really hit its peak – “He casts out demons through the prince of the demons.” They saw that He had cast the demon out of this man who couldn’t hear or speak, that word there meaning both. It’s translated dumb in the authorized, but it can be translated dumb or deaf. And they said, “He’s done it. Can’t deny that.” They never did try to deny it. It was impossible to deny it. They just said, “He does it by the prince of the demons,” which is really stupid when you think about it. and later on in chapter 12, Jesus says to them, “That just shows you where you are that you think Satan goes around casting out Satan.” That’s so elementally illogical that it’s nonsense. But they had no possible – because of the darkness of their heart – commitment to believe the truth, and so they came up with the most stupid response imaginable – willful ignorance. They were so committed to getting rid of Jesus that even when they saw the miracles, they said, “They’re done by Satan’s power.” No wonder Jesus said, “If they don’t believe Moses and the prophets, they won’t believe though somebody’s come back from the dead.” And so they moved to a tragic step in their rejection. They said, “He’s doing this by the power of the devil.” And so they concluded the very opposite.

See You can see who Jesus is yet be totally blind.

I want to finish with this point today. Last point..

Only those with true sight see that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I dont have to spend alot of time of this point, but the reality is this you are either blind or you can see. 2 Cor 4:4

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV

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, who is the image of God.

See Satan is the one was truly at work with the pharisees on that day. See religious people will even tell you good things, yet not tell you how you can truly see. See other religions make you jump through a bunch of hoops to get to God, but the Christian will tell you and the bible will tell you that Jesus came so you could have spiritual sight for yourself.

And God today is calling you to be like the blind man saying Have mercy on me O God give me sight to see you. To see that you are the son of Man the promised messiah help me see that Genesis to Revelation is all pointing to you, help me see that I have a bigger problem then just not have vision I have a sin problem, and God only you though Jesus Christ and come and open my eyes, God will you do that will you help me see, and he will if you call upon his name you turn from your sin you trust in Christ alone he will make you see.

And friends if you are in Christ today and your vision seems a bit blurry.. Your life is cloudy get in this book. I know so often we have Christian cliches like read your bible, pray and we don’t know what to do with that but if your vision is born again Christian blury read this book, study those chapters 5-7 which we spent so much time on learning how to live as a Christian, and let the word shape you.

In Fact listen to 2 Tim 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Want to have good vision wants eyes that truly see… then study all of scripture. One more verse…

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

See if the Pharisees knew what they should have they would have saw that Jesus was fulfilling prophecy after prophecy, and they would not have missed what these blind men confessed that Jesus is the Son of David, the Son of God, and the messiah Friends do you see with eyes that can see that Jesus is the only one who can save? Let us pray…