 In Matthew chapter 20 beginning at verse 29, Matthew writes, now as they departed from Jericho a great multitude followed him and behold two blind men sitting by the road when they heard that Jesus was passing by cried out saying have mercy on us oh Lord son of David then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet but they cried out all the more saying have mercy on us oh Lord son of David so Jesus stood still and called them and said what do you want me to do for you they said to him Lord that our eyes may be opened Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him. Now notice with me as it begins here in verse 29 it simply says as they departed from Jericho a great multitude followed him. Let me lay a context and a foundation and we'll get into our into our study. The study really is going to center on the fact that he gives sight to the blind. That's what we're seeing here in this passage but let me lay a context for you as we develop our Bible study and look at this portion of Scripture together. You have to remember back in the earlier portion of Jesus's ministry two of John the Baptist disciples had come to question the Lord Jesus Christ. John was at that time in prison and he was concerned about what he was hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ. It would appear that what John the Baptist was hearing about Jesus Christ did not coincide with what he thought Messiah was going to be like and he's about to lose his head and it would seem that he wanted to make sure that he was losing his head for the right person and so in Matthew 11 verses two through six Matthew writes when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ he sent two of his disciples and said to him are you the coming one or do we look for another Jesus answered and said to them go and tell John the things which you hear and see the blind see the lame walk the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them blessed is he who is not offended because of me couple of things I want to point out one blessed is he who is not offended or made to stumble because of me blessed is the one who does not have this idea of what God is supposed to be like and when God doesn't fit into the pattern that we have said that he has to follow blessed is the one who has not put God in that pattern but has allowed God to simply be God there are a lot of people who think that God should or should not do certain things some of us have had conversations with them when they have said my God wouldn't do that well the God that they're speaking about isn't necessarily the God of the Bible it's the God of their imagination and so when Jesus makes a statement blessed is the one who's not offended because of me blessed is the one who's not stumbled because of me blessed is the one who when he sees me for what I am is not stumbled in the sense of not wanting to be with me blessed is the one who allows me to be who I am and receives me for what I am don't get caught up thinking that God has to fit into the mold that you've made for him on one occasion the prophet Jeremiah speaks and I'm paraphrasing but he speaks to the Lord he says you know I would like to speak to you concerning your judgments I'd like to in other words speak you concerning the things that you're doing because I don't think I understand why you're doing these things I want to have a conversation with you concerning the things that you're doing perhaps I can give you some insight into what you really ought to be doing and there are quite a number of us who have this attitude that we ought to be telling God what to do we ought to run the universe and God ought to step aside and let us take over because we have a better plan for him especially when it comes to our own lives so blessed is the one who's not offended because of me John you were expecting me to be in a certain way to do certain things but you're discovering that I'm not exactly what you thought I was to be but there's another thing I want to point out here and that is when Jesus said and he gave a scriptural answer he's saying John this is what the Bible says about Messiah go and tell John the things which you hear and see the blind see the lame walk the blind see the Old Testament prophesied that one of the ministries of the coming Messiah would be the ministry of healing in Isaiah forty two six and seven the Old Testament prophet writes I the Lord have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles to open blind eyes to bring out prisoners from the prison those who sit in darkness from the prison house to open blind eyes they knew Messiah would be one who opens the eyes of the blind in the city of Nazareth where Jesus grew up he applied this promise to himself that he might establish his claim to being Messiah in Luke 4 18 it simply reads the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed again recovery of sight to the blind the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ included healings and the healings were part of his credentials that established him as Messiah that's something later on in the book of Acts the apostle Peter makes reference to in Acts 10 38 he was speaking of the Lord Jesus and the apostle said God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him so the works of power including the healings of the blind were part of the credentials that established Jesus as Messiah so his ministry included that of healing now sickness and disease sickness and disease is the result of the fall of Adam sickness and disease was not intended by God God's intention as we read our scriptures especially as we begin in the book of Genesis and begin to read God's intent God's intention was for mankind to live in health but in the fall man became vulnerable to illness it was part of what would contribute to his ultimate death but Jesus came bringing the invitation to enter into the kingdom of heaven and so he had said in in Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand so when his earthly ministry part of his commission that would establish his credentials was the healing ministry Matthew tells us again in chapter 9 verse 35 that Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness the question is asked why was healing part of his commission well there's no sickness in God's kingdom Jesus was revealing this as he went about healing in his ministry he's showing what eternity will hold for those who follow him when you read the book of Revelation 21 in verse 4 it says God will wipe away every tear from their eyes there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away in Revelation 22 3 there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it his servants shall serve him Jesus was speaking in Matthew 12 28 and he said it this way he said if I cast out demons by the spirit of God surely the kingdom of God has come upon you and so as Jesus would go about doing good and he performed healings it was simply a picture of what the coming kingdom was to be all about now at this time he's been ministering for three years his reputation has preceded him word has spread that he heals all manner of disease including blindness his reputation has reached the ears of two blind men Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem he's now leaving what has been called the oasis of Jericho when you go to Israel and you're there in the city of Jerusalem ancient Jericho is about 15 miles to the north and the east of the city in ancient times it was beautiful it had a theater and amphitheater it had villas it had Roman baths it had palm citrus and fig trees rose gardens as a gentle climate there year round and so Jesus is leaving this particular oasis and it's nearing the time of what is called the Passover he's been spending time instructing disciples concerning principles of the kingdom in this chapter in chapter 20 he had shared with them for the third time concerning his upcoming death and his resurrection he shared with them the key to greatness in the kingdom of God which is humility now he's going to teach them another lesson and a lesson that is intended to form them into ministers of the gospel and if you're taking notes what's that lesson we're going to look at today the lesson of compassion the lesson of compassion he's going to teach them to have compassion for those who hurt in the Bible God is revealed to have a variety of what are called attributes the Bible speaks concerning his communicable and in communicable attributes and some of the attributes that are referred to you in a theological sense as his communicable attributes would include his love and his grace his mercy his long suffering one of the things that you see communicated to you in scripture concerning the God of this universe that is so important for us to see is his compassion the Bible teaches that he has compassion he's filled with compassion what is the word compassion mean well the word compassion is of Latin origin it literally speaks of co-suffering it's more involved than simple empathy because compassion commonly gives rise to an active desire to relieve someone else's suffering when you have empathy that simply means that you're experiencing alongside of somebody the pain they're going through but compassion's deeper it's not only experience that alongside of somebody who's hurting it's weeping with those who weep but it's also this incredible drive within you to somehow somehow alleviate to find a way to relieve them of that pain that's compassion I cannot tell you how God began to teach me what compassion is I don't have enough time because I began to learn the lesson of compassion when I was four or five years old because God grazed me with a mother who was sick from the time I was between four and five and I saw my mom go through one struggle in pain to another until the day she died a couple of years ago I saw my mother in pain almost constantly from the time she was about 24 or 25 years old until she died at the age of 62 my mom went through pain like very few people I've ever been around her last year of her life she fell she broke her back she had a bag that was attached for her because her her intestines were so so damaged from the medications she had taken over the years that she had to wear a bag my mom's hands were gnarled they looked like claws her feet look like claws because of the predisone that she had taken to alleviate the pain that she was in for so long she had lupus and a variety of other diseases including epilepsy and and I did not have those diseases but I watched my mother suffer with them and I can tell you that being in the room with her and seeing her and hearing her I can still remember my father giving me a call one time and he said David can you pray for your mother the pain was so intense I could hear my mother in the other room just screaming at the top of her lungs in pain screaming Jesus Jesus Jesus I cannot tell you how many years how many years I had prayed and sought the Lord and asked God please Lord do something for my mom please please and see some of you have been here long enough to know that when my father went home to be with the Lord I took it very hard I didn't expect my dad to go in the way that he did and I grieved for a long time but when mama went home to be with the Lord you didn't see me doing the same thing you didn't see me standing up and catching my breath and holding on to the platform and trying to remain strong because I had prayed Jesus please if you're not going to heal her please take her home please take her home she's in such pain and your divine mercy if you're not going to heal her please just take her home so when mama went to be with Jesus it was bittersweet of course my mama I love her but mama needed relief and it was an entirely different experience over the years I began to learn compassion that not only the empathy of joining in with with her in her sorrow but with his great desire to see it relieved Jesus is compassionate he doesn't just see pain he experiences it with you might want to mark that in your heart and not forget it he doesn't just see it he experiences it with you and his desire is to relieve you the Bible teaches that God is compassionate Psalm 86 15 you old Lord are a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering abundant in mercy and truth so God is filled with compassion he reveals compassion through Jesus Christ you see that by how the Lord very often helps those in physical need again in Matthew chapter 14 verse 14 when Jesus went out he saw a great multitude he was moved with compassion for them healed their sick so the kingdom of God is to be people by people of compassion it is to be inhabited by people who love and care and desire to alleviate the pain of someone else and that's because we are Jesus's followers we are his disciples and he says in Matthew 10 25 it's enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher and a servant like his master so if you have compassion that truly makes God's kingdom unique in today's world because our world is filled with busyness it's difficult and even unusual to stop to help someone in need but the kingdom of God is to be filled with those who love and those who take time to minister to others and the key trade of a Christian is concerned for somebody else with the love that comes from above Jesus died for our sins we can know that we can know that humility is necessary he's just been giving teachings in chapter 20 concerning that we can believe that we can believe that Jesus died for our sins we can believe that humility is important we can believe those things and still fail to show compassion for those who have need and so Jesus is about to share once more about this important trait of a Christian so notice that's your introduction verse 29 as they departed from Jericho a great multitude followed him Jesus is leading what I call a Christian parade there's a great multitude following behind interestingly enough when you study the gospel of Matthew you'll discover that the word multitude and the word multitudes those words are used 42 times in the gospel of Matthew 42 times it's favorite word that he has you'll see in Matthew 4 25 great multitudes followed him from Galilee to capitalist Jerusalem Judea beyond the Jordan Matthew 5 1 seeing the multitudes he went up on a mountain and when he was seated his disciples came to him Matthew 8 verse 1 when he had come down from the mountain great multitudes followed him so wherever Jesus Christ was a crowd was sure to form now here's a principle for us as Christians if Jesus is openly and clearly presented through the word of God people will show up they will somebody once said catch fire for Jesus and people will drive from miles around just to watch you burn when the Lord Jesus Christ is present in his word those who are hungry for him show up they come and there will be and have been in the past and there will be in the future there will be multitudes they don't come just for the entertainment of the study they don't come for the topic of the study they don't come simply for the person who speaking or the entertainment or the eloquence the intellectualism the subject they come because the Lord Jesus Christ is there they show up where Jesus is that's a fact that that's a key you know in the years past when Pastor Chuck Smith was beginning to pastor and in Costa Mesa and the Lord began to move in Calvary Chapel there were people who were coming from around the world and they were showing up at Calvary Chapel and they were interviewing him and they were asking him what is it what's the secret and and he had there was no no great secret the secret is this if you want the secret the secrets out just lift up Jesus Christ just love him and do so openly and people who have that heart people who have that need people will see it and they'll say that's what I need that's what I want in my life Chuck said when his church was beginning to take off in the newspapers and magazines were beginning to become aware of Calvary Chapel in the early days he said people were coming asking him to speak he says I remember one time they asked me to speak and I went out to speak he said and the guy Chuck said the guy who invited me probably thought that I was going to do something that would make the people weep because this guy was kind of thinking that Chuck was some kind of entertainer any of you who knew Pastor Chuck he had a very mellow kind of approach kind of cool you know just he used to teach an hour and a half Bible studies and the people would be seated there in rapt attention for an hour and a half they were so hungry for the things of God so because there were you know he had the largest youth group in the United States at that time there were 2,000 young people coming to Bible studies and that was huge I mean that'd be huge now and so I mean he must he must make the people cry and Chuck said so there I am giving the study the way I normally do and the only person who cried was the guy who invited me listen if you lift Jesus up he will draw him in and to himself wherever Jesus really is there will be a crowd there will be people there who want to hear about this man they will follow him that's exactly what they did you see in these last days of his ministry multitudes were continuing to follow after Jesus Christ now in a large part these were what we would refer to as pilgrims they were traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and so there's a large crowd of people and it would seem that many have joined with the group of disciples who are traveling with Jesus Christ and so this is not necessarily a group of all sold out followers of Christ there are a lot of pilgrims multitudes at the time they're moving towards Jerusalem that's where Jesus is going as Jesus is walking there are people behind him following crowding listening to what he's saying but keep in mind that just because they're walking behind him just because they are literally following him does not mean that they are real followers of Christ there are quite a number of people who still fit into that category today they show up at church in Easter they show up in church in Christmas they'll show up at church for a wedding for baptism for some funeral service if you ask them afterwards are you a Christian oh yeah yeah I'm a Christian and and you know and I know they have never been born again they don't follow the Lord they don't have a hunger for his word they don't have a walk in his spirit they don't have a desire for fellowship with like-minded people they don't serve God in any way shape or form but if you ask them are you a Christian they'll say yeah and I call that the Christian parade the Christian parade they claim they claim to have a relationship with God they they claim to be following after him but they aren't true followers of Christ but here they are this crowd it's a multitude and the multitude makes noise and as they're traveling you know what crowd noise is like it must be growing excitement enthusiasm would be building as they're walking on the way to the city of Jerusalem and what happens here as is often the case the sincere believer the sincere believers have been infiltrated by the sensation seekers the sincere can be infiltrated by the insincere how do you know the difference how do you know the difference between somebody who loves Jesus and somebody who does it how do you really know the difference that they were both just seated in in a church service you know as sir a holy glow on one you turn the light off and only the ones who are glowing ah those are believers said how that works you know the glow in the dark Christians how do you know and if you're walking with a large group of people how do you know that every single person that's walking in that crowd really has a relationship with Christ you don't of course you don't how would you know that happens all the time it happened then it happens now the sincere can be infiltrated by the insincere that happens in Christian gatherings you go to Christian concert the Christian concerts will attract people who like music but they're more interested very often in the groups than they are in the message you can go to a crusade and I remember hearing of one particular crusade I think it was a Billy Graham crusade where it was at one of these large it wasn't an arena it was at I think it may have been in a stadium and the and the gates were locked and these people this is a true story we're pressing against the chain link gate it was fenced they were waiting for it to slide open they were pressing against it and the minute that the gate was opened the news was reported they ran forward pushing people out of the way pushing people out of the way to get the seats up in the front so they could hear a message of humility love compassion and submission to God that happens to this day churches can be filled on particular days just by having a celebrity speaker somebody other people like they'll drive from miles around and when they get there they save the seats then they stand in line to get an autograph and it happens all the time it happens all the time where people will stand in line push others out of the way to come in and it's everything that Jesus taught us not to be and yet it's there so yeah yeah there's a Christian parade there are groupies even to this day but one quality that distinguishes a genuine person who loves the Lord from the one who's just saying is compassion and these people need a lesson they're going to be taught about kingdom priorities they're going to be awakened to discipleship you see the crowd that is mixed with the disciples well that crowd is about to be exposed to genuine faith they're about to see something called love and action and so here's this multitude following verse 30 behold two blind men sitting by the road when they heard that Jesus was passing by cried out saying have mercy on us oh Lord son of David and so Matthew mentions two blind men the other gospel writers that give to us this particular event only mention one the one they mention is Bartimaeus Bartimaeus is mentioned because he's the spokesman and so as this is taking place it says they heard that Jesus was passing by notice and they cried out saying have mercy on us oh Lord the words cried out when you see that and you look into the original language remember the New Testament was written in what is called common or coin a Greek when you look at the word what is he saying when it says cried out well it speaks of a loud cry it speaks of a passionate even an anguished cry it's a shout it's a kind of cry that one of the writers said was a cry of like when a woman was giving birth and she went through a severe pain and she just let go of a cry it's that kind of anguish painful cry that thank you Jesus I will never understand I never gave birth but I told Marie I understand don't you worry I I feel your pain yep in this in this particular instance this would be a cry of desperation a cry of desperation Psalm 141 verse 1 oh Lord it says Lord I cry out to you make haste to me give ear to my voice when I cry out to you it's a cry of desperation it's a plea for help God help me you see they couldn't see but they hear the sound of the crowd approaching and the sound of the approaching crowd have you hear all this noise and they're there on the side and they're actually they're more than likely to beg to receive some help from people to receive alms as these people were going by on the way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and there they are in a great place because so many people will pass by but they hear this crowd noise and it says in Luke 18 36 and 37 when he heard the crowd going by he asked what was happening and they told him Jesus of Nazareth is passing by and that's what causes them to shout out that's what causes them at the top of their lungs to begin to cry out and say Jesus son of David help us it isn't just a whisper you need to get this into its context this is the shout this is a cry this is anguish that they're yelling out this is my last opportunity I've heard of him I've heard what he does I've heard that he can he can heal the sick I've heard that he can can cause the blind to see and they begin to cry out like that this is their opportunity and they're not going to let it get past them physically they saw nothing but spiritually they saw clearly and so in Psalm 30 verse 10 here oh Lord have mercy on me Lord be my helper that reminds me of the woman the Canaanite woman who cried out after Jesus in Matthew 15 22 and 23 it says behold a woman of Canaan came from that region cried out to him saying have mercy on me oh Lord son of David my daughter is severely demon-possessed but he answered her not a word and his disciples came and urged him saying send her away she cries out after us send her away have mercy send her away the disciples wanted him to send her away again they're still trying to be he's still trying to teach them ministry ministry can be difficult sometimes it's not always easy because it's the way of death serving the Lord is not easy I remember a guy his name was Gus I used to work with him and he and I were talking once and he said to me well you became a Christian you took the easy way out I smiled at him I took the easy way out I took the easy way out is it easy being a believer in Christ no has it ever been no no it's never been easy it was easier for me when I was depressed to go get drunk that was easy it was easy when I wanted something to just steal it that was easy but to work to earn money to buy that isn't easy to deal with my emotional times of pain without taking a drink and learning to cast my cares on God because it was easier in the past just to pick up a bottle and drink for a little while cry and then get over it blame the alcohol and move on but now to have to deal with it actually have to be a man and deal with it without taking that easy way out no the easy way and I told him I said it isn't easy to follow the Lord it's the way of death to follow the Lord he said pick up your cross daily and follow me and picking up a cross it's an implement of death it's an implement of capital punishment when Jesus said pick up that cross he wasn't saying I've got an easy life for you he was saying I have the way of death for you you are gonna die daily then you'll become like me he's a suffering servant he was wounded he understands pain and if you want to be deep you will go through deep things that's how it works that's how it works you'll go through deep things they refer to him as Lord Lord is a common word at that time that would speak of respect and if they simply said Lord there are those would argue they're simply regarding him as a master teacher somebody worthy of respect but they're not just referring to him as Lord they're asking for mercy they're calling him son of David they're asking for healing so what they're really doing is they're simply acknowledging him as being Messiah now what's going on as this is taking place the people respond and notice how they respond verse 31 the multitude warned them that they should be quiet you know what that literally is saying the multitude said shut up cease be still quiet down don't disturb the master what's wrong with you just shut up just be quiet just keep it to yourself why are you ruining our party why are you ruining our moment this is exciting it's exuberant this is fun and you got to break into it and mess it all up with your problems shut up keep it to yourself they didn't like being disturbed they're warning them be quiet the politely religious never are comfortable when they're confronted with real need to them anything that deserves their peaceful condition is absolutely not to be tolerated I was given a Bible study many years ago now it was in the early days of our church we probably were a couple years old three years old or so at the time it was in Ontario Christian elementary school we used to meet in a an auditorium there sat about 250 300 people maximum had a couple services there and it was in the early days of our church and and I was teaching as I was teaching a passage of scripture I began to illustrate it don't remember the illustration just remember the response of one of the individuals in the Bible study was a man an older man I said something don't remember what it was it was said but I do remember the response I remember him crying out I remember the sound because you have to get into your mind a 300 seat auditorium is not that large and a person who's only halfway into the back of the auditorium was probably only about 35 feet from me so he's not that far from me so I could hear him very clearly and he groaned it sounded like a deep pain groaned one of those tearful and he actually moaned out loud I don't remember exactly what he said but I remember it was startling because it was so loud and it was so sudden and it was disturbing it disturbed and the people right behind I looked and I saw people right in a certain area as as sound came and this young couple stood up and they walked out immediately and I thought so that's where this man is he's right in front of them or next to them because they stood up and walked out now I have to be honest with you I'm not used to people making disturbing noises during Bible studies I just kept teaching the word it settled down and then afterwards I went out and I was told what it was there was something that had been said in my study that triggered a response in this older man it caused the sorrow and grief to come from deep within his son had just died his son had just died and I said something that reminded him of his boy and he just burst he just burst open and I'll never forget I've said this many times I don't want to say it a lot but if you can't cry in church there's no place you really can't cry if you can't allow the spirit to speak to your heart and be real before God in church and if we believers if we believers are so caught up with wanting to feel comfortable every time we go to church and not be disturbed by something that's unusual that may be a very real very human very deep pain that somebody else is suffering and we don't want to be touched by the feeling of their infirmity something's wrong with my Christianity something's wrong with it something's wrong with me listen church sometimes can be kind of like a dirty in the sense of a house that's lived in can be dirty sometimes church can be a place where there's a lot of life that's being lived and a lot of pain that's being experienced I know be on a shadow of a doubt if I were to take a Sunday morning and I would begin to ask appointed questions how many of you have recently lost a loved one how many of you have gone through some severe trial how many of you have just come out of a depression how there are people all around us that will stand up and they would raise their hand if they could be honest they could say you know what I want to smile and be gay not gay use be gay I want to be happy not gay will strike that from the study used to be gay we can't even sing Christmas carols now we don our gay apparel I think of Bruce Jenner so I shouldn't have said that but you know what I'm trying to say if you can't laugh in church if you can't experience life at its depth in church didn't Paul say weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice what do you say in Paul on every every portion of life from joy to sorrow you need each other you need each other you need each other God helped the church to learn that listen church is in the playground it isn't an entertainment center it's life there are people who hold in on by the tips of their fingernails and they come to church because they want to see Jesus because he's their only hope never forget that I don't never forget that given a Bible study actually wasn't given a Bible study I was an assistant pastor at this time I was there ministering to people after church service when the young woman approaches me she's 21 years old goes to a college nearby pastor can you pray for me she says and I say of course what can I pray for last night she says to me I was in the laundromat a man came and raped me can you pray for me I have prayed after studies for people who are sitting in that church service in such pain holding it together and waiting till the service is over that they might come and say I need help I need prayer can you please please pray for me guys there are people in this room right now that are holding on they're holding on we have people who will lead Bible studies like this and the first thing they do is they go to a bar we have people who are in Bible studies like this first thing they do is they go to an old girlfriend or an old boyfriend on the way home fornicating then they go home they are so lost and so lonely and so in need and so many there's just so much going on in their life I'm not saying that's good by the way that it isn't good but at the same time I want to I want to minister to them I want them to know that there is love that there is peace that there is forgiveness there is joy there is there is an end to this pain you can have a relationship with God but the people the people say shut up we don't want you to make that noise it's kind of dirty it's kind of messy we don't like that kind of life not around us you don't bother the master and and so leave him alone what an incredible picture walking with Jesus and call us to pain we don't want our hands to get dirty for people like that helping other people is generally left up to the professional that's why we hire pastors they'll say or they say if someone's in pain said ate them give them a drink tell them to live with their problem tell them to be quiet keep your grief to yourself churches can empty when a pastor suffers through sorrow I know that because mine began to when my dad died and I would weep in the pulpit because I couldn't contain my sorrow and people began to disappear because I didn't have any joy where's my faith all I was doing was grieving and I think now I should have taken some time off from the pulpit agents I never did I just said I'm gonna in the Lord I'm gonna make it through and I did but instead of people saying that's a model we can make it to they bailed because people do not like to see pain it's too messy it's too messy at the first sound followers should have immediately brought these men to Jesus instead they're disturbed tell them to be quiet and instead of bringing them to Jesus they are keeping them from Jesus some people don't understand human pain Jesus did Isaiah 53 3 says speaking of Messiah he was despised and rejected a man of sorrows acquainted with bitterest grief we turned our backs on him look the other way when he went by he was despised and we didn't care you know when you read your Bible you see that Jesus was drawn to those who were in pain Mark tells us of a leper it's found in chapter 1 verses 40 and 41 a leper who came to him imploring him kneeling down to him saying to him if you're willing you can make me clean Jesus moved with compassion stretched out his hand and touched him and said I am willing be cleansed he was drawn to this man there's a woman at the well Jesus said I have need to go through this particular place he goes to the well at Sychar and he goes there because he knows that there's a woman who's been living an immoral life and he has an appointment with her because when he shows up at that well and she shows up at that well he brings her to faith in himself he has a way of being drawn to those in need there's a father with a severely demonized little boy he brings the boy to it to Jesus his disciples and says please cast the demon out but they were unable to and he comes and says master I brought my son to your disciples and he severely demonized and I asked them to cast the demon out but they weren't able to and Jesus said to him if you can believe all things are possible to the one who believes and the man said something Lord I believe helped our mind unbelief Jesus was drawn to him and he helped him to have faith Jesus would come to those who nobody else would come to it was it was so common that they finally said this man eats with with tax collectors and sinners Jesus's response to that we all know it was only those who are ill will go to a physician I came to call the sinner not the self-righteous to repentance he did this through his whole ministry even to the point where he was dying on the cross and there on across there's a thief Lord remember me when you enter into your kingdom you shall be with me today in paradise that's what Jesus is all about you see true Christianity can be messy and so they're saying in verse 31 they're saying be quiet but his response he cried out all the more he wasn't about to lose out on receive him from Jesus Christ somebody once said that these men refused to be bludgeoned into silence by an indifferent crowd so how did Jesus react verse 32 he stood still and he called him they're crying out to him had gotten his attention calling to me and I will answer the and show the great and mighty things which thou know us not Jeremiah 33 3 says and Jesus halts the parade here's something for you he is willing to stop everything he is doing just to reach you might want to mark that in your heart he's willing to stop everything he's doing just to reach you when you cry out to him mark tells us that Jesus stopped and said call him so they called the blind man cheer up on your feet he's calling you throwing his cloak aside he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus so he discards that which might tangle him up stumble him as he comes to Jesus he discards his filthy garment that had once he had once been wrapped up in once had been his security in discarding this filthy garment he comes to the one who can give him a robe of righteousness you see earlier in Jesus's ministry there was a rich young ruler and the rich young ruler when speaking to Jesus you know what can I do to inherit you know the kingdom and Jesus says you know the commandments and begins to list several of the commandments that pertain to man's obligation to other men all these I've done since my youth up what do I still lack was his response and go and sell all that you possess give to the poor come follow me and you can enter into heaven with me and he went away he's very sorrowful because he was very rich that young man wasn't interested in giving up what was keeping him from being with them so let it go this man would not have anything stumble him as he came to Christ again he was physically blind yet with the spiritual eyes he saw who Jesus was and he came to him and as he comes verse 32 what do you want me to do for you well it would seem obvious but this is how you come to Christ sometimes we need to be specific we say God I am a sinner not just in general but Lord you know my sins there ever before me this is what I am this is what I've been I'm not going to hide it from you I've been trying to all along I've even tried to hide it for myself but I finally see myself for what I am I know that you can see me but let me tell you what it is what do I need from you God I need you to forgive me God I'm tired of being mean I'm tired of being a drunk I'm tired of being violent I'm tired of being a sexually impure I'm tired of these things not just I'm tired I'm I'm tired of these things these are the things that that I am I'm in bondage to these are the things that that are holding me I want to be loose from these things what do you want me to do for you lose me from these things I want my sight coming to Jesus relies on our completely letting go and approaching him honestly and humbly and they say in verse 33 that our eyes may be opened they make a public confession of their need they were spiritually blind physically blind and they needed healing in both areas and the Bible says in verse 34 Jesus had compassion touched their eyes and immediately they received their sight Luke 18 42 and 43 receive your sight your faith has healed you immediately he received his sight followed Jesus praising God when all the people sought they also praised God listen when God doesn't work in you and it's open and it's real not only are you going to be saved but you're going to have an impact on other people you're going to have the opportunity to be used by God to reach other people I have to tell you I have to tell you with all honesty there's nothing in this world that is more rewarding than to see somebody who turns away from the sinful life that they lived and have been restored by God forgiven by God there's nothing more beautiful than that to see lives transformed by the grace of God he came and followed the Lord and his life became a testimony of the goodness of God you can do the same thing you see if we open our hearts to him he will open our eyes today