Tonight the choir started out singing – “let there be light, let there be hope to illumine the night. Let there be light. Rescue our world from the darkness of night. And I like to touch on this tonight by reading from Luke 18:35. As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. Now pause for a while, you know in all of history, certain things never changed. I mean when this was written, it was 2000 years ago. Today as you travel across Asia, and even in our own city in KL, you can almost see the same scenario, blind men and blind women sitting by the road side begging. Amazing how things remain the same. Let’s read on V36 And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 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!” 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?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
I often wondered how one could cope with one suffers from a loss of one of our senses. Traditionally we have 5 senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch and some may have 6 senses, I don’t know but imagine a doctor were to tell you today that because of an incurable disease, one of your 5 senses have to be compromised, which one will you sacrificed in order to save your life. Which will you sacrificed or rendered unimportant in order that you might live? It is a most interesting question. I hope that none of us will ever have to go through such a question in our lives. Which is worse? I don’t think I can answer the question for you but perhaps this may help. Do you know that 80-90% of all our information received to our brains, comes directly from our eyesight; it seemed to imply that we rely largely on our eyesight more than the rest of our senses, as far as our brain is concern. I often wondered why we don’t have mute beggars, though we may have one or two; or why we don’t have deaf beggars, though we may have one or two but it most cases, almost 100% of our beggars in the street today are most likely to be blind. There is a sense of hopelessness when you are blind. When you are blind, it simply means you are unable to live on your own; you are unable to cope on your own; it is like someone out there who switched off your lights in your life and only darkness and shadows prevail. The only option left in those days was only one – to beg. When you are in this kind of position, it always the world staring down at you because you are smaller now than the rest of the world. Have you ever felt like that? You are at the mercy of the world around you. You just wish that someone will come along one find day and switch on the lights so that you can see. I read a story about a blind man in the Philippines by the name of Ramon. Born in March 11 1965, Ramon has enjoyed his sight for 17 years before he completely lost his sight to cataract. He said – I was only nearsighted when I was young. It was after I graduated from high school that I became totally blind. I truly miss the colour of the life I once knew. Living in a world devoid of light and risks are the main challenges he had to go through every day. With only a cane as his aid, Ramon had experienced on many occasions when he tripped on something or bump into someone. He recalled falling into a manhole in front of the hospital twice because the sewer’s lid was missing. This is aside from the sneers he frequently hear from uncaring individuals who seem to take enjoyment in teasing people who are handicapped like Ramon. He said – I ‘m so used to it that I no longer react to it like I did before. I don’t put it in my head. I just ignore it and go on with whatever I’m doing. And he had a piece of advice to his blind fellows; He said – don’t lose hope. It all depends on how you manage your life and become productive. You still have other senses. Use them.
And this was what this blind beggar did for himself by the roadside. He has resigned to the fact that he is totally blind and he has accepted the fact that he must now live a life of a beggar; living on someone else’s mercy and someone else’s pity and sympathy. To be blind and to be a beggar at the same time forces a man to sink into the lowest depth of human despair; where he cannot do anything about his circumstances anymore, where he cannot feel anything about his circumstances anymore, when he reaches that point of human desperation; no money, no dignity, no human decency and no hope. Let me share with you my friends that it is only when one is utterly and morally bankrupt and emptied of all his pride and dignity and self importance that God’s light will shine upon our darken world. I want you to see that tonight.
My friends, when the lights of your life are out, when the doors of life are shut and when you have run out of options. Am I speaking to anyone of you like that tonight? If you are sitting here wondering why my life today is so dark and there seemed no light at the end of the tunnel, you have reached an important milestone for God to work tonight. That is condition that God wants from us if we ever want to find him.
Let me explain. Do you know that if this man was not blind and not begging; the chances of him finding God may not be as desperate as when he is blind and begging?. Funny isn’t it. He may very well be a wealthy businessman, owning a big house with many servants, happy, contented and building an empire for himself and wasting his money on all the enjoyments in life. And therefore never desperate enough to find God. He doesn’t need God, he doesn’t need to think of him even for a minute. That’s the irony of this story. There are many today who can see very well but they cannot see God, they can see power & success & achievement & accomplishments but they can’t see God. They have never been in want and never need to beg for anything in life. The conclusion – those who can see are actually blind and those who are blind and desperately begging can actually see. For this man, being blind saved him; for this man, his begging saved him.
You noticed in verse 36, hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. The told him Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. So you realized that now not only his blindness and his begging saved him; his enquiring is going to save him. A blind man who sits by the roadside begging has only 2 options in life. To hear and to enquire. For years he can tell the difference between the footsteps of a mother & her child, the footstep of soldiers & their commanding officers, he can tell the sound of a wedding or a funeral processions. His hearing becomes the most important part of his survival. If a loose bullock cart or wagon is heading down his way, his hearing is going to save him.. And let me tell you – he has heard through many months even years – one incredible man by the name of Jesus Christ – a man of God who heals, who touches life, who teaches wonderful things about God and hope and love and a future kingdom, and wish in his wildest dreams that this day would come, when Jesus would walk toward the road where he sits. My friends, His hearing saved him, his inquiring saved him. My friends, that’s the way to find it, if you seeking for God tonight.
Let me go further. Look at v38. And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 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!” My friends, let me share with you that his calling saved him. If you want, you can call the friend brought you to discuss further, you call one of the church leaders to pray for you, you can call on me when the meeting is over; but what you need to do is to call Him. Jesus, save me, saved me now. Would you do that tonight? Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This blind man was in darkness most of his life, begging most of his life, hearing, inquiring most of his life and nothing will ever stop him calling out on top of his voice for that one chance. This blind beggar was out drown by the ferocity of the crowd, sidelined, discriminated all his life, victimized, abused, neglected and considered irrelevant to society and yet he got picked or singled out by the Lord. Friends, God can definitely hear you tonight. Your silent whisper is as loud as thunder as far as God is concerned tonight. Will you call him tonight, right as this very moment in your heart?
V40 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?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” Let me regain it. There is an indication that he may have lost his eyesight through some accident or disease and he longs to see again. I want to see again Lord. It’s strange only when you lose something, then only you treasure it more; than when you have it. My friends, we use to have a relationship with God, we use to walk with God as friends, a long time ago, but we took it for granted, disobeyed him and choose to walk away from him. That’s why we are all blind, we lived like beggars, without hope, without help and without a future; and some of you tonight are living in that helpless condition. I say to you, Jesus is walking down this road toward where you are sitting. Enough with this blindness, enough with this begging, enough with this hearing and inquiring. If you are one of those who is calling out to him, he is asking the very same question. What do you want me to do for you? ( 5 words) Lord, I want to see.
Christmas is full of amazing bright lights for our human eye to see, look at our streets and shopping complexes; I can tell you, it doesn’t fill our darken lives with one bit of light. Jesus says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”. Sin has darkened our lives; sin has blinded our eyes; sin has cut off our relationship with God; sin has created a barrier; a thick wall between us and God. Sin has shut God out of our lives and today we simply cannot see him, we cannot reach out to him. But we have a loving God, who out of his great love which he loved us, you know he loved us so much till the point of giving his son Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. All our sins were put on him as he hung on the cross and he said “Father forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing? And he shed his blood for our sins and died. 3 days later he rose again and won the battle over sin. So that now whoever believes in him by faith; by saying Thank you Jesus for loving me and dying for me; I want you to be my Lord. Please save me. By doing that, the bible say now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The key word is IN Christ Jesus. You have to be IN Christ Jesus; to enjoy the blessing of God. Right now many people are still outside of him; and it is dark outside of him. You may be hearing and inquiring for years, but as long as you don’t come and remain outside of him; your sins are still condemning you to a life of darkness. And there are many people here who have come into Christ and saw the light and never look back. Jesus is saying to you tonight: so what do you want me to do for you? I urge you to say: Lord Jesus, I want to see! Would you do that? Let’s bow our heads and pray.
If God is speaking to your hearts tonight, would you respond to him? Call out to him in your heart. Ask Jesus Christ – the light of the world to come in; he will take away your darkness and your sin from you. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins. And that he will do for you. If you want to receive Jesus Christ, would you say the prayer with me – and mean it in your heart as you utter these words in silence – Lord Jesus, (say in your heart) I know I am a sinner and I lived in a world of darkness and sin. Thank you for dying a cross for my sins. I invite you now into my heart as my Lord and my saviour. Help me now Lord, to live my life trusting you always. In Jesus name. Amen.
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