Whether that was true or not, Christ was confronted with blind beggars quite often. There are half a dozen verses which speak generally about the many blind whom He healed. And then there are the really well-known cases. The most famous in my estimation is the man discussed for forty-one verses in John 9. Another famous case is Bartimaeus, whose story is shared in three of the gospels. Two other cases are mentioned only once, and one of those is the one before us this morning.
When I first began thinking about messages for today, I considered one about faith and another on prayer. These men teach us several things about prayer, and it is in the midst of an important chapter on faith. But the more that I considered the two ideas, the more they blended together. Their pleading for Christ’s mercy – their prayer – was based on their strong faith. At least in this case, to discuss one is to discuss the other as well.
And why should we consider this at all? The answer is obvious – to some degree we are all seen in those blind men. We need the Lord Jesus, and therefore we need to understand the faith of these two men, and we need to utter prayers similar to theirs.
First, their prayers and their faith welled up OUT OF GREAT DESPERATION.
As we have seen, Matthew 9 is filled with various illustrations of spiritual salvation. We have a crippled man – unable to walk to the House of God or to physically serve God. “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” Until the sinner is moved by the Holy Spirit, he will never seek to please Jehovah. By nature we are all without strength, possessing any good thing before God – Romans 5:6 and 7:18. Then there is a woman whose blood rendered her unfit for fellowship with God or his people. “There is none righteous, no not one. “They are together become unprofitable.” “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” After that woman we come to the dead child. The scripture declares in several verses that we are all “dead in trespasses and sins.” “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Marvel not (that Christ has told us), Ye must be born again.”
And now we come to men who were blind. Of course, their blindness was physical and real, but we don’t know how long they hade been blind. While physically blind, they were also born spiritually blinded, and their religion kept them that way. Speaking to Israel – and through them to all the rest of us – God once declared – “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.” We are born incapable of seeing or understanding God, and our worldly religions keep us that way. “The god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
In our modern world, there are various kinds of eye problems which can be corrected. Myopia and cataracts, for example, are vision problems which can be eliminated with surgery and lenses. But true blindness is virtually impossible to correct, even with all our modern techniques and medicines. In Jesus’ day there was nothing in their medicine bags which could help people like these two – no salve, no surgery, no drops and no lenses. But that didn’t stop the cry of these men – “Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.” It might be argued that they weren’t asking for their sight, but for alms or other forms of wealth. But that just doesn’t fit the context very well. Out of the depths of their despair these men were asking for an ocular miracle.
Before moving on, let me re-emphasize – you and I are just as blind spiritually. We are just as dead as Jairus’ daughter and just as paralyzed as the man who we let down before Jesus from the roof. Our sins have separated us from God just as much as that woman’s issue of blood. Without the miracle of God’s salvation, we shall all die without sight, without strength and without eternal life.
The faith and the prayers of these two men were INTELLIGENT – SPIRITUALLY ACCURATE.
Out of fun, I have entitled this message “Blind Faith.” Unthinking, unknowing people sometimes try to say that the Christian’s trust in Christ is “blind faith.” What they mean is that it is foolish, unscientific – ignorant. But that is a malicious lie. As Paul said so many years ago, “I know whom I have believed.” “I know what I am doing,” therefore “I am not ashamed… and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” And centuries before that Job said, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
I am not going to analyze right now what those men meant when they referred to “the Son of David.” But I will say this – those were thinking men. They knew who it was upon whom they were calling. This designation is definitely Old Testament terminology, and perfectly applied as we shall see later. But at this point you need to know that this is the first time in Jesus’ ministry that someone called him the “Son of David,” and it was not a mistake.
Where did those men get the idea that Jesus was the Son of David, and what exactly did it mean? They got that out of the Old Testament – and it referred to the Messiah. Based upon the scriptures, when compared to what they had been hearing about this Jesus of Nazareth, and they knew exactly what they were saying when they called upon Jesus in this way. They and faith enough to be convinced that He could meet these deep and impossible needs of theirs.
Then their faith and prayers were TESTED, but THEY PASSED the test with flying colors.
The Lord Jesus had been invited to the house of Jairus to minister to a dying – a dead – child. Just about everyone was expelled from the house, except for the parents and a few disciples. After raising the girl, and after a few minutes of extremely important fellowship and instruction, Jesus left that house intending to go to yet another. Perhaps it was to another place of ministry, but perhaps He was headed to His temporary home. “And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.” I have no doubt but that these two men were making quite a ruckus – quite a scene. “Thou Son of David have mercy on us.” “Help us.” “You can restore our sight.” “Please, Lord.” Shouts similar to that could have been heard all the way from Jairus’ house to Peter’s house.
But the Lord Jesus appeared to ignore them. He didn’t slow down; He didn’t stop to help them. He didn’t quiet them, or urge the crowd to make them be quiet. But he didn’t help them either. I wonder if they had been deaf instead of blind, if they would have pushed their way through the crowd to touch the hem of His garment? But they weren’t deaf or armless, crippled with arthritis or some other malady. And they weren’t cured either.
They had every reason to relax their grip upon the Saviour. After it was obvious that He had heard their cries, but He ignored them, they might have given up. When He was walking away, as quickly as the throng permitted, they might have become disconsolate. He was leaving them – in their perpetual darkness. It was only because the noise of the crowds that they knew in what direction He was headed. How quickly did they try to follow? Did they have canes or canines to help them travel about town? Did they stumble and fall? Were they bruised or even cut on the stones of pathway by the time that they reached the Lord? Were there other sufferers who tried to cut them off or to silence them, trying to keep them behind them as they sought the Lord for their needs?
Why didn’t the Lord stop to help them? Only the Lord can truly answer that question. But the obvious result was that their faith was put to the test. They had every reason to quit and go home, but they refused – “Thou Son of David have mercy on us.”
The Biblical adjective which might have been used to describe their prayers and their faith is “importunate.” They had no intention of letting their begging and their prayers cease. Some people might look at the Lord’s behavior here, and in a dozen other cases, and criticize Him. Don’t you dare criticize the Son of God. There is always a purpose in a delay – a test – like this. And Christ, on several occasions, teaches and praises, importunate people – those who refused to give up. How much do you really want this blessing from God? How desperate are you?
It might be argued that these poor men were desperate only because no one else could ever help them. But isn’t that the point? There is only one God; there is only one Son of God, and there is only one Saviour There is only one place to which we can go to find an answer for our sins – the cross of Christ. There is only one place where dead and dying sinners may be given eternal life – He who gave His life for that purpose. Jesus once said in prayer, “This is life eternal, that (blind sinners) might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”
The faith of these men, and the prayers of these men, were put to the test, but they passed that test. They refused to give up; to turn aside. Later, after a session where Jesus taught some very hard theological lessons, some of His professed, but uncommitted, disciples decided to call it quits. “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”
What is it that you want from God? Do you want an easy path through a troublesome world? Those blind men didn’t find it easy getting to Jesus that afternoon. Do you want a life without pain, disease and blindness? They didn’t have it. Do you want to be able to call yourself a Christian, but to live in the world’s wickedness? You may be calling on Jesus’ Name for the rest of your life without getting any response. But if you importunately call, and unhesitatingly seek and follow, you too will be blessed as these men were. It was their faith, not their legs or their eyes, which carried them to the Son of God – the Son of David.
As far as their prayers was concerned a few other great characteristics can be found.
For example, their prayers were simple. They could have asked Christ for sight, strength, a fishing boat, new nets and good weather for the rest of their lives. I’m not trying to be silly, but some people’s prayer requests border on the silly. Yes, these men wanted to be able to see, but they were reaching out for whatever the mercy of God would provide. “Thou Son of David have mercy on us.” “You know best what it is that we really need.”
And by the way, there is nothing wrong in praying for things personal. Just be willing to let the Lord be God. It may be that it is not God’s will that you have perfect sight. Nevertheless keep on seeking and knocking, until He tells you to stop.
A third thing in regard to this prayer is that there were two of them united in this desire. Remember that in the first miracle in this chapter there were at least five people united in their faith. There was the paralyzed man and at least four others holding the four-corners of his sling-bed. Here there were two, but the Lord has promised to bless small groups united in faith and prayer. Even if a church be small, Christ has promised to be in its midst when there may be only two or three.
Their prayers and their faith were ACCEPTED by Christ.
“Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” At this point we need to be very, very careful. I know that in our English language it sounds as though Jesus was saying – “Since your faith has reached a sufficient level, it has procured for you new sight.” But that was not what the Saviour was saying. Some people have the idea that if we can muster enough faith, some sort of spiritual energy is created which cannot at that point be stopped. Let’s say that a faith-score of 82 is necessary to recreate physical sight. For years these blind men had faith which reach only 69, but now after hearing of other miracles, and after this arduous walk to Peter’s house, it had grown to 84, and since that was sufficient to meet their need – sight would be granted according to the strength of their faith. No sir. No sir.
I have mentioned this before, but it’s appropriate once again – We had a family in our Calgary church, who had some charismatic relatives. When one of that extended family died, all the relatives gathered – not for a funeral, but for a resurrection. Several of that family were furious with our church members, because they didn’t bring their faith into the united effort to raise that dead loved one to life again. They were convinced that if their united faith reached a level of 96, life would have been restored. Without saying so, they thought that at some point God would be forced by their faith into a resurrection. I’m sorry, if their faith reached a score of 213 that deceased relative was not going to arise out of his coffin
It is not our faith which effects the cure, it is the Lord and His grace. What Jesus said was that the faith of these men had been recognized by Christ, and He mercifully, graciously chose to grant their desire. It was not the degree of their faith, but His own will which affected the cure. And yet, He did take note of the fact that they were placing their trust in Him.
The same is true when it comes to the salvation of our souls. I believe all those scriptures which say things like – “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” At the same time I believe the rest of that verse in Ephesians 2 and the next – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast.” It is not the strength of your faith in Christ, which determines whether or not He will save your soul. Like those foolish charismatics, it is not if you believe hard enough, long enough or high enough then perhaps you can convince Christ to forgive you of your sin. It is not if your faith reaches a 75, 85 or 95 then will you impress the Lord sufficiently to save your soul. As it was with these men, humble faith is merely the reaching out for the Lord’s mercy. The key to this miracle – and to the miracle of salvation – is Christ, not your faith. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” – that is – trust Him, as these men did. “Then touched he their eyes, saying, (Since you trust me) be it unto you.”
Finally, those two men had an APPRECIATING faith
“When they were departed, they spread aborad his fame in all that country.” Let’s lay aside for a moment the command that Jesus gave them to remain quiet about the miracle. Answered faith must be appreciated, and those men obviously did appreciate what Christ had done for them. They should have, but did not, keep quiet about the great miracle bestowed upon them.
As I said last Sunday night, this command for quiet does not apply to us. Those whom the Lord has saved, should appreciate the even greater blessing of the Lord of salvation. If you have been saved by the grace of God, you have the responsibility and the privilege to shout the Lord’s praises from the highest housetop. People saved by the grace of God ought to be baptized as a symbol of their new life and new relationship to Christ. They ought to become a part of one of the Lord’s churches, as a place through which to serve the Lord. They ought to sing and shout the praises of the One who has saved them. And they ought to obey all the other things that He has commended them.
As I have said about others, I don’t know for a fact that these men are in Heaven at this moment. But they surely illustrate people who have been saved by the grace of God. It took a miracle of Christ to save them. And it was by their faith that they reached out to the Lord and appreciated what He did for their eyes.
Have you reached out to Christ for salvation; for deliverance from your sins; for forgiveness? Repent and trust the Lamb of God as your own personal sacrifice for sin.