Matthew 9:27-34

Introduction

Have You Ever Had News You Just Couldn’t Wait to Share?

I Don’t Mean Like Gossip or Bad News

Christians Shouldn’t Gossip or Enjoy Being the Bearers of Bad News

I’m Talking About Good News that is Personal to You

Like a Child Who’s Excited to Show Everyone Their New Christmas Present

I Know a Little Girl Who Will Tell Even the Strangers in the Grocery Store About Her Dolls

Or Maybe You Just Received the Latest Test Results and You are Finally Cancer-Free

Wonderful News Like that is Nearly Impossible Not to Share

When We Became Pregnant With Evangeline…

We Couldn’t Wait to Share Our Good News With Others

Evangeline = Good News

Evangelism is About to Be Our Primary Topic in Matthew’s Gospel

He is Getting Ready to Send His Apostles On the “Limited Commission”

They are to Go Out and Tell the Good News of the Kingdom

But Before We Get There, We are Going to Meet 2 Men…

Who Were Commanded By Jesus to NOT Tell the Good News to Others

And They Found This Command Impossible to Obey

Matthew 9:27-34

I’ve Got Wonderful News!

Today We are Going to Finish Up the Gap Between Jesus’ 1st and 2nd Major Teaching Discourses

We are Going to Cover the Last 2 Miracles in the 3rd Grouping of Miracles

And Tonight We are Going to Finish Chapter 9

The Wonderful News is:

You Won’t Have to Hear Me Repeat My Same Spiel I’ve Been Repeating the Last Several Months

This Will Lead Us Right Up to Be Able to Begin Jesus’ Next Teaching Discourse

But We Won’t Start it Until March

First We Will Do a New Sunday Morning Series in February Titled:

“Leaving Comfort Zones”

This Series Will Be All About Looking at Biblical Characters…

Who, Through Faith, Were Willing to Leave Their Comfort Zones…

In Hopes that it Will Motivate Us to Do the Same

We’ll Start That Next Sunday Morning

Matthew 9:27 (NASB95)

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

Matthew Links This Story With the Preceding One

Jesus Had Just Resurrected Jairus’ Daughter From the Dead…

And Now, as He was Leaving His House…

2 Blind Men Were Following Him

What They are Crying Out is Very Interesting

“Have Mercy On Us, Son of David!”

We Understand that They Were Crying Out for Compassion

But to Whom They Believed Themselves to Be Crying Out Toward is Interesting

“Son of David” was a Popular Jewish Title for the Messiah

That Makes These Men Some of the First to Recognize…

And Publicly Announce Exactly Who Jesus is

Think About That for a Moment

The First People to See Jesus as the Messiah Were the Blind

How Many Have Seen the Miracles of Jesus and Refused to Acknowledge Him for Who He is?

But These Men Who are Unable to See Him, See Him Clearly

How Would They Have Known?

From Where Does Faith Come if Not From Sight?

They’ve Heard of Him

They’ve Heard What He’s Been Going Around and Doing

And Now They’ve Just Heard the Celebration of a Daughter Whose Been Brought Back to Life

“We Can’t See You, But We Know Exactly Who You are!”

They Knew the Prophecies

Only the Messiah, the Servant of God, the Anointed Descendant of David Could Do Such Things

Isaiah 29:18 (NASB95)

On that day the deaf will hear words of a book, And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

Isaiah 35:5 (NASB95)

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

They Believed the One Who Can Open the Eyes of the Blind was in Front of Them

There are No Other Accounts of the Blind Receiving Sight Outside of the Gospels

It was Seen as Exclusively a Divine Activity (Only God Can Do That)

Only God and His Anointed Could Do Such a Thing

From the Beginning of Time, Only Jesus Has Restored Sight to the Blind

And Throughout His Ministry, We Read of Him Doing that More Than Any Other Miracle

Matthew 9:28 (NASB95)

When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

Jesus’ Response Seems a Little Strange

He Doesn’t Immediately Acknowledge Them and Heal Them

Only After He Enters “the House” (Possibly Peter and Andrew’s?)…

Does He Speak to Them

We Will See in a Moment that Jesus Wanted His Interaction With Them to Remain a Secret

But Why?

Several Times in His Ministry, Jesus Will Tell People Not to Say Anything to Anyone

Theologians Call it the “Messianic Secret”

Jesus Didn’t Want to Attract Unwanted Attention

The Time for Unwanted Attention Hadn’t Come Yet

There Were Times When Crowds Became So Large…

Or Opposition Became So Fierce that Jesus Had to Get Away

He Wanted to Avoid Shallow Followers and Fierce Opponents

In This Specific Case, He Might Have Avoided Them in Public Because of What They Called Him

“Son of David” Comes With Political Baggage

The Last Thing He Needed was the Religious Elite and the Romans…

Catching Ear of Him Being Openly Referred to as “King”

Again, the Time for This Hasn’t Come Yet

The Faith of These Blind Men Led Them to Following Jesus Into the House

And He Asked Them if They Believe He Could Heal Them

They Immediately Answer “Yes”

They Have Proven and Confessed Their Faith in Multiple Ways

Matthew 9:29 (NASB95)

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.”

Matthew Loves Showing Jesus Heal Through Touch

He Touches Their Eyes and Tells Them that They Will Be Saved Because They Had Faith

With the Last Miracle Story, Along With This One…

Matthew is Showing Us Just How Important Faith in Jesus is

Without Faith/Trusting in Jesus’ Power to Save…

There is No Salvation

Matthew 9:30 (NASB95)

And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!”

After Jesus Healed Them, He Became Very Stern With Them

He was Deeply Moved With a Seriousness On the Verge of Anger…

And Warned Them Not to Tell Anyone

He Wants These Men to Take His Command Seriously

Matthew 9:31 (NASB95)

But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

They Obviously Didn’t Take His Command Seriously

We Know They Had Faith in Jesus…

But They Lacked the Kind of Faith that Leads to Obedience

Because of that, News About Jesus Spread Everywhere

Matthew 9:32 (NASB95)

As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him.

As the Formerly Blind Men Left, Another Man was Brought in

He was Possessed By a Demon Which was Causing Him to Be Mute

Matthew 9:33 (NASB95)

After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

Matthew Doesn’t Bother Telling Us About How Jesus Cast Out the Demon

He is More Focused On the Response

I Personally Believe that Matthew is Not Referring to the Crowds Response to This Specific Miracle

I Believe Matthew is Referring to the Crowds Being Amazed at All of the Miracles Jesus Performed in Chapters 8-9

Remember, Matthew Has Structured His Gospel Account to an Extraordinary Degree

Do You Remember How He Ends Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount?

Matthew 7:28–29 (NASB95)

When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

After His Teaching, the Crowds Were Amazed

And After His Miracles, the Crowds Were Amazed

The People Were Absolutely Amazed at Jesus

Because the Things He was Doing…

Had Never Been Done Before

Matthew 9:34 (NASB95)

But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”

But Not Everyone was Amazed With Jesus

As the Sinners, Sick, Diseased, Outcasts, and Lower Class People’s Love Grew for Jesus…

The Pharisees’ Hostility, Jealousy, and Hatred for Jesus Grew

And it’s Only Going to Keep Growing

They Knew They Couldn’t Deny His Miracles

So if They Were Going to Continue Rejecting Him…

Then They Were Going to Have to Claim that His Miraculous Power Came From Somewhere Other Than God

They Were Willing to Give the Devil Credit for All of God’s Blessings He was Bestowing Others…

Rather Than Accept that Jesus was Truly God’s Anointed One

It’s Interesting How Blind Men Could See Jesus’ Identity So Clearly…

And the Pharisees, Who Saw Everything Jesus Did, Refused to See Him for Who He Really is

Blind Faith is Always Better Than Sighted Disbelief

We Will See the Pharisees Make This Same Blasphemous Accusation Again in Chapter 12

There, Jesus Will Respond to it

Applications:

Disobedient Evangelism

Jesus Sternly Warned the Blind Men Not to Tell Anyone About What Happened to Them

They Were Blatantly Commanded to Not Evangelize

To Not Tell the Good News

And Yet, They Were So Overjoyed that They Disobeyed

Something So Life-Changing Had Happened to Them…

They Felt They Couldn’t Keep it a Secret

They Felt They Had to Tell the Story of the Man Who Restored Their Sight

Now Let’s Take a Look at Ourselves

Jesus Has Commanded Us to Evangelize

He Expects Us to Tell Others the Good News

We Too Have Experienced Something So Life-Changing…

That We Shouldn’t Be Able to Keep it to Ourselves

And Jesus Doesn’t Want Us to

But So Often, We Disobey Jesus’ Command Just as the Blind Men Did

But, Unlike Them, it Isn’t the Joy of Our Salvation that Leads Us to Disobey

So Often it’s the Opposite

It’s Our Lack of Joy

It’s Sad to Say, But Sometimes Christians Seem to Be the Most Miserable People in the World

And I Believe it’s Because Many of Us Don’t Truly Understand Salvation…

Or Don’t Truly Believe it

What Jesus Has Done for Us is Greater Than Anything We Can Comprehend

He Has Given Us Hope (Confident Expectation of Something Wonderful)

Those Who are Saved By Jesus are Going to Resurrect to Eternal Life, Like Jesus

We are Going to Receive New, Perfect, Glorious Bodies

And We are Going to Live Forever in a Perfect Paradise

We No Longer Have to Fear Death

We No Longer Have to Feel the Guilt of Sin

We No Longer Have to Feel Alone or Rejected in this World…

Because We are Given a New, Loving, Accepting, Burden-Bearing Family in the Church

We Have Constant Access to the Merciful God and King of Creation…

Who Loves Us and Call Us His Children

Whenever We Begin to Recognize the Glory of Our Salvation…

And Understand the Fullness of What Jesus Did, is Doing, and Will Do for Us…

We Will Stop Acting So Miserable All the Time

And We Will Not Be Able to Stay Quiet About Jesus

We Will Be Filled With Joy and Excitement to Share Him With Others

We Have to Stop Allowing the Devil to Take Our Joy Away

We Have to Stop Allowing Him to Deceive Us Into Thinking…

That We Don’t Have Good News that People Would Love and Need to Hear

Let’s Allow the Joy of Salvation in Jesus to Lead Us to Being Christians…

Who are Open and Happy to Share the News of Jesus

Not Only are We Commanded to Do So…

If We Truly Understand it and Believe it…

We Will Want To

The Blind Men Couldn’t Be Kept Quiet

Neither Should We