REMOVING BLINDERS

(Luke 18:35-43)
October 23, 2016
Read Lu 18:35-43 The context: Earlier, Jesus noted its hard for rich people
to enter the kingdom. So the disciples ask, 18:26, Then who can be saved?
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But he said, What is impossible with man is possible with God. His point?
Salvation is not by human effort. Then, He reminds His disciples of His
pending suffering, death and resurrection. Thats the objective basis for
salvation and can only be accomplished by God in the flesh Jesus. But with
that foundation set, Luke gives us 2 stories answering the question who can be
saved? It can be a poor, blind man or it can be a rich, arrogant man. It can be
anyone, because What is impossible with man is possible with God.
As often with Jesus, a physical condition, blindness, represents the spiritual
reality of every person outside of Christ, groping for answers. However great
their intellect, they are tragically blind to spiritual realities. II Cor 4:4 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. Christ is
hidden from unbelievers just as surely as He was from this blind man.
Unbelievers are like the guy who approached a woman with her back to him:
Hi Cousin. But when she turned it was not his cousin. Same shape and size;
same hairdo and clothing. But she was not his cousin. She accepted the mans
apologies. Then she opened her purse, gave him a card and hurried off. The
card read: Helen Miller: Optometrist. I guess she thought she could help.
Well, Jesus helped this man in an amazing way. He helped him see before he
could see! While still physically blind, he saw some spiritual realities that
saved him. And those things can guide us to saving faith as well. Listen,
Beloved, if you are blind, you cannot see what you cannot see. Same with
spiritual blindness. So what did this blind man see before he could see?
I.

He Saw Self Clearly

Mt 20:30 tells us there were two blind men paired for safety. Luke focuses
on one whose name is Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). His being named may show
he was a member of the early church. He knew he had a problem. He was a
beggar because of it. And when he thought help arrived, he acted: 38 And he
cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! We dont know how long
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hed been blind. In v. 42 Jesus says, Recover your sight. Literally, look up
(See 19:5) It can mean either gain or re-gain. Either way, he knew he had a
problem.
But think about this. If he had been born blind with no one around to describe
seeing, hed never have known, would he? Hed have assumed that 4 senses
is all you get. Hed never have known what he was missing. Even if just 1 or 2
people tried to describe sight, he might have missed it. Had he not known he
was blind, or refused to acknowledge it, he never would have sought help.
And thats where spiritual blindness is so devastating. Most people dont
know they are blind. No one has told them, or the god of this world (Satan)
has kept the blinders in place. The first step in removing the blinders is to see
ourselves for who we really are. No one will ever be saved until they know
they need to be. Until we see how holy God is and how selfish even our most
gracious acts are, let alone our worst ones, we cannot be saved. No one seeks a
solution for a problem they dont believe exists. But denying a problem
doesnt erase it. Thats the fate of those who are blind to their need of Christ.
Some of you will remember Ken Caminiti. 15 years a big league 3rd baseman.
In 2002, Tom Verducci wrote in SI of, the first public admission of steroid
use by a prominent former player. Ken Caminiti revealed to SI that he won
the 1996 NL MVP award while on steroids. Caminiti started taking them for
a shoulder injury in early 96. But he used so heavily by seasons end his body
had virtually stopped producing its own testosterone. His multiple other side
effects included loss of sexual function. His comment: Ive made a ton of
mistakes. I dont think using steroids is one of them. That was 2002.
Caminiti died in 2004 at the ripe old age of 41. Drug overdose.
Denial doesnt make it so, Beloved, not physically and not spiritually. And
when the Bible clearly states, the soul who sins shall die (Ezek 18:4) we
must take heed. God is telling us, You have sin? Then you have a problem.
Youre going to die. And youre going to spend eternity somewhere other
than where I am. Hes helping us see self clearly like the blind man did.
II.

He Saw the Savior Clearly

That doesnt mean he knew everything there was to know about Jesus, but, Ill
tell you, he knew a lot for a blind beggar. And he believed it all. He hears a
commotion one morning as he takes his begging station a crowd going by.
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Whats going on? 37 They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.
Thats all hes told. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus ministry had been
mostly in Galilee not his zip code. But watch his reaction
when hes told, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. 38 And he cried
out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Thats an amazing title for
Jesus of Nazareth! Son of David to the 1st century Jewish population was
unquestionably a Messianic title.
It goes back to Gods promise to David in II Sam 7:12 When your days are
fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring
after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
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He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom forever. That text keyed Jewish expectations. They understood an
ultimate Anointed One Mesheach Messiah, would one day rule on
Davids throne. Possibly Bartimaeus also knew that Isa 35:5 prophesied,
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and he believed it all.
But how did he know Jesus was the One? Were not told. No doubt Jesus
reputation preceded him by this time. He had doubtless heard of the teaching
and miracles of this amazing person who had burst on the scene. And some
combination of that message, and the work of God in his heart had produced
faith, right? Thats the way it always happens. Rom 10:17, So faith comes
from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. So here, the little
word he had heard coupled with bits of Scripture he knew, ministered by the
HS produced faith. V. 42 tells us his faith saved him. The blind beggar sees
the Savior clearly. In his blindness, he sees way better than the Pharisees who
have been following Jesus for months trying to discredit Him. Grace is a
wonderful thing, isnt it? It allowed him to see Jesus for who He really was.
Similarly, to be healed of spiritual blindness we must see Jesus for who He
really is. It is not enough to accord Him a place in the pantheon of historical
heroes a great man who means nothing to me personally. It is not enough to
declare Him a fine man and a great prophet. That is not enough. We must see
Him by the title God gave Him at His birth Immanuel God with us.
One of the great heroes of early Christianity is a man named Athanasius who
lived during the 300s AD (bishop of Alexandria 328-373). He opposed a
theologian named Arius who denied the deity of Christ. The heresy was
condemned (Council of Nicea in 325 AD), but Arius got multiple Roman
emperors (who were only too happy to declare Jesus less than God) to agree
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with him. Athanasius spent his life fighting Arius over one letter. Know what
that letter was? Arius said, Jesus is homoiousios with the Father, which
means like substance. Athanasius said, No, hes homoousios [no i], the
same substance. Get that I out of there. And he was right. You must get I
out and see Jesus as one with the Father. Paul says Jesus was in the very
form of God. Col 1:19 says, For in him all the fullness of God was pleased
to dwell. Jn 1:1 says, In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God (literally, God was the Word). Jesus
cannot be your Savior until you see Him for who He is as God in the flesh.
Also notice, once Bartimaeus knew Jesus was nearby, nothing could keep him
away. 39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! He didnt
say, Its too hard to get to Him. He didnt say, Well, I dont want to
humiliate myself. He would not be denied. People who see Jesus for who He
really is wont let anything hold them back. Ignatius of Antioch wrote of real
possibilities in his day: Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts;
let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of
members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments
of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ. Nothing and
no one was going to keep him from Christ despite that it cost him his life.
Bartimaeus had that mindset. Nothing could stop him. Someone once asked
Helen Keller, Isnt it terrible to be blind? She responded, Better to be
blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.
Beloved, I beg you this morning, see Jesus for the saving God that He is.
III.

He Saw the Solution Clearly

What was that solution? To cast himself on Gods mercy. V. 38: Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me. V. 39: Son of David, have mercy on me. This
guy knows he brings nothing to this party. He labors under no illusions that
he can restore his own sight. His only recourse is to plead for mercy. He does
not argue he has helped other beggars. He doesnt list his ethnic background
or that he attends synagogue every week. He pleads for mercy, not justice.
When we beg for justice, we are begging for our own condemnation. Not this
man. He sees clearly its not merit that will help; its mercy.
And what Jesus does is amazing! Here is one insignificant blind beggar sitting
on the outskirts of Jericho where he has been for years and at his plea for
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mercy, Jesus stops. Jesus who according to Jn 1:3 created all things
without him was not any thing made that was made. Jesus, of whom Paul
says, in him all things hold together (Col 1:17). Jesus in whom all the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell that Jesus stops everything at one cry
for mercy from the most insignificant of people and v. 40: And Jesus stopped
and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked
him, 41 What do you want me to do for you? Look at that. One cry for
mercy not only stopped the Lord of the universe cold in His tracks, but He
then put Himself completely and totally at the disposal of the one seeking
help. The Lord of the universe became the servant of a nobody named
Bartimaeus.
Thats incredible, Beloved. Had Bartimaeus presented his case based on his
merit, there would have been no stopping; there would have been no offer for
help; there would have been no invitation. But the cry for mercy changed
everything. Just like the Pharisees prayer based on merit in Lu 18 fell on deaf
ears, but the tax collector who cried out for mercy went home justified. This
blind man saw clearly that his only hope was not in himself but in Gods
mercy and that cry for mercy moved the heart of God thru Jesus.
And so the hope for spiritual blindness is not in rehearsing our meritorious
service for God. Wont work. But cry for mercy and the Lord of the whole
universe is instantaneously at our disposal. It doesnt get any better than that.
It takes humility to open Gods heart, not arrogance.
Babe Ruth was, of course, the highest paid baseball player of his time. His
$80,000 salary was more than twice anyone elses. But when the Great
Depression hit the Yankees asked him to take a cut. GM Ed Barrow said, But
Babe you made more money last year than President Hoover. Ruth
replied, I know, but I had a better year than he did. Well, true or not, when
we bring our own merit to present it we are in essence saying, I had a better
year than Jesus did. Imagine how thats going to play! Its exactly as
blasphemous as it sounds. The blind man saw he saw that it was not his
merit but Gods mercy that would save him. But one cry for mercy stopped
the universe as Jesus puts Himself at his command. So we must seek mercy.
IV.

He Saw Salvation Clearly

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And Jesus said to him, Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.
So, did the man get his eyesight? Absolutely. But he got a lot more. The
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phrase your faith has made you well literally reads, your faith has saved
you. Your faith has saved you. It immediately calls to mind Eph 2:8: For
by grace you have been saved thru faith. [Ah hah! So I was smart enough to
believe, and God saved me. Really? Not so. Eph 2:8 goes on] And this [faith]
is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. All of this tells us two things. It
tells us this man was not only healed physically; he was saved spiritually
same word as Eph 2:8. But it also tells us that even the faith was not his own.
That too was a gift of God. Just as he could never have given physical sight to
himself, so he could never have given spiritual sight to himself, but God gave
him the faith to get both. Its just like Jonah said in 2:9: Salvation belongs to
the LORD! Its all Him lock, stock and barrel.
And this man got that. How do we know? 43 And immediately he recovered his
sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it,
gave praise to God. Who did he glorify? Himself for having had the sense to
put his faith in Jesus? Oh, no. He put the glory exactly where it belonged. He
glorified God. And as a result, so did others. What a beautiful story. He saw
that salvation belongs to the Lord and he went away with 20/20 vision
physically and spiritually.
Conc Perhaps II Cor 4:4 is true of you today: 4 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. Then God has brought
you here for a reason. Hes given you an opportunity to see yourself clearly
as someone bearing guilt that condemns you. Hes given you a chance to see
the Jesus clearly as one who came specifically to seek and to save those
who are lost. But you must see the solution clearly as well not your merit,
but His mercy is your only hope. How do you get that? You ask for it. Like
Bartimaeus did. Right here. Right now. Not allowing anyone to keep you
away. Blindness kills. Take the blinders off by faith.
Some of you may recall Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gargarin was the first man to
fly in space (4/12/61). He was quoted at the time, I looked and looked, but I
never saw God. Some insist that it was really a quote from Premier
Khrushchev. Either way, the quote made the news. The following Sunday, W.
A. Criswell, pastor of First Baptist in Dallas made a classic comment. He said,
Well, if that cosmonaut had stepped out of his spacesuit, then he would
have seen God. He was right of course. Common grace sustains life for each
of us for the moment. But our moment could end any time. Gargarin, in
perfect health, died at age 34 completely unexpectedly in a plane crash on a
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routine flight. If hed never seen God before, he saw Him then. How much
better to see Him now, in this life, when faith can bring eternal life. Let Him
take the blinders off, Beloved. Even if this doesnt all make sense to you
please for mercy anyway. Ask Him to take the blinders off and He will.
Bartimaeus saw a lot before he could see. So can you if you open your heart
to Jesus like he did. Lets pray.