Transcription
[Music] You guys ready? We're gonna put part three to, uh, bed this morning, and this portion of Corinthians. And, uh, we need to do that. It's powerful, and we need it in our hearts. Turn in your Bibles to Second Corinthians chapter three this morning. Second Corinthians three, and we're in verses four to sixteen, but we'll end in part three of this message. The latter push of Paul regarding this great truth about nothing can be greater. That's the title of this message. Is nothing can be greater than what Paul is presenting. It's so powerfully true. Verses twelve to sixteen. Now, we pick it up. Look at it with me. Paul says to the church at Corinth, "Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. Unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily or steadfastly at the end of that which was passing away. But their minds were blinded or veiled, for until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament." This is predominantly, of course, to the Jewish person today, because the veil is taken away in Christ. He's the key. But even to this day, when Moses has read, a veil is on or upon their heart. Nevertheless, verse sixteen is the great victory. "Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."
Church, part three of the message. But before we get into that third and final point that we're looking at this morning, I want you to keep this in mind. Paul is talking about a blindness, a blindness that resides upon the heart. And all of us, to some degree, can relate, uh, to blindness in this sense. Uh, we can have a self-imposed blindness. We can go into a room, turn off all the lights, and in some sense, we're blinded. I remember years ago, visiting the Oregon Caves. Have you ever been there? The Oregon Caves. They'd take you, the National Park Service takes you inside the Oregon Caves, and they walk you in so far into what I think is called the Grand Chamber, my memory serves me right. And you're with about sixty people, and you go into this room. It's an open cavern area, and the ranger takes you in so far, and then he presses a button, and all the lights go out. And then he takes out a photometer, and a photometer reads the presence of light in the room. And you know there's light that is not visible to the human eye. I don't remember what our wavelengths are, but it's somewhere around 620-ish to like 700-something, maybe, if my memory serves me right. There's wave, there's light wave properties outside of those, those numbers. And he reads it, he moves it around the room, he's telling us to pick up light, and it's like 0.001, meaning it's almost or is absolute darkness for us with the human eye. It is total darkness. And he points out that in that cave, if you were lost in that cave, as some had been in the past before they ever got a chance to be rescued, they went insane. They went insane. Some said that when they were brought out, they had gone somewhat crazy, but they had all admitted to a sense of being strangled, though nobody was touching them. The darkness strangled them.
The Bible tells us that God put a darkness upon Egypt when the children of Israel were being held captive there. That in the middle of noon day, there was a darkness that descended upon the children, or I should say, the people of Egypt. And the Bible says it was a darkness that could be, what, felt? Darkness, a depth of blindness that grips you and holds you in its power. I, in growing up, we had a neighbor, Johnny. And Johnny was blind. And the amazing thing about Johnny, he's born blind. The amazing thing about Johnny is that Johnny seemed to know more about what was going on around him than any of us who had eyesight. Have you ever known somebody like that? They had a keen sense of awareness. There are some people who are blind physically, but they can see. There are some people who can see. I think this is most of the world. They can physically see with their eyes, but their hearts and minds are blind with a blindness that can be felt, felt by all those who live around them, felt by all those who know them. And today, we'll be looking at what it's like to see in God's word that opens up our eyes and our minds to see. It's been said that seeing is believing, but that's not true in Christianity. Some people will say, "If I just see a miracle, I'll believe." You ever heard that before? "If you would just do a miracle, they told that to Jesus. Do a miracle and we'll be able to see, we'll believe you." That's not true. You know, people see wonders and people see miracles, and they don't see any more clearly spiritually, and they don't have any deeper insight into God's plan if they were to experience a wonder or a sign or a miracle. Miracles cannot open your eyes. There's got to be a willing heart. God shows us in this physical realm that there's a form of blindness, but there is a greater form of blindness in the spiritual realm that is a grave danger to all of us today. Are we able to see?
In our previous studies, we looked at these points. The first point was that there's nothing greater than absolute assurance. We saw that in the last two services. There's nothing greater than absolute assurance. And the Bible teaches us that God is giving you the Bible, the Word of God, that you might have absolute assurance as Christians. And can I add this? We need to start acting like it. If it's true, we need to really start living like the Word of God would have us to live. Everybody seems to be afraid of everything these days, but you know what? That ought not to be true about the Christian. We should be absolutely bold and sure about our assurance with Christ. Do we really believe the Word of God is God true? Is God speaking to us, His eternal Word? And as God has preserved the Bible for these thousands of years for us to read today, then shouldn't we sit up and take notice and apply it into our lives? Or do we have a heart that's blinded? We might read it with our eyes, but does it sink into our heart? Are we assured of God's great Word in our lives? Three things assured. We have this kind of assurance regarding entrance into His presence. We also have the acceptance of Almighty God that through Jesus Christ, we not only have acceptance and entering into His presence, we have the amazing acceptance of Christ standing before Him. We have access to God right now. And then thirdly, it's amazing that we realize that we have absolute assurance regarding the life of God. The Bible says that Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is living His life. As you amazingly yield to Him, you are living a life where Christ is living His life through you. That statement alone, that truth alone, ought to set us out from among the world as being radical people. I read, maybe you did this week, there was an article in the news, and this particular atheist was warning the world about fundamentalists. And, uh, you got to think about that for a moment. Anybody who makes a statement like that as a, as he did, a blanket statement, is really tipping their bias, shows their hand of their agenda. You cannot say that if somebody's a fundamentalist, you better be careful what you want to say. You better be careful of some fundamentalist. Why? Because there are those who are fundamentalists in their terrorism. Be careful. But as Christians, if we were fundamental Christians, meaning that we take up the Word of God and live it out literally, then listen, that's the kind of a fundamentalist you want in your community and working at your company. Because they will be honest, they'll love God, they'll love one another, they'll be your best employer or employee, they'll be your best citizen. Why? Because they're living for Jesus rather than anything else, and their agenda is life, and that is a great thing to remember.
Number two, last time, verses seven through eleven, we looked at nothing can be greater than multiplied glory. And we looked at three steps to that glory. That in verses seven to eleven of Second Corinthians three, Paul taught them about a great glory, and then he talked to them about a greater glory. That as we walk with God in the newness of this Christian life that God has called us to, or maybe He's inviting you to know today, Jesus has been working in your life, there's things going on in your life, Christ is using. He wants to bring you into a great glory of salvation and a greater glory of His revelation of His person. That God loves you, that God has a plan for your life, just like we prayed just a moment ago. And what a name, Keiki is baby in Hawaiian, child, baby. Lonnie is either sky, heaven, or from God, a child from, or a child of God. And that's exactly what God wants in your life. Think about that for a moment. Which leads us, we saw verses ten to eleven in our last study, to the greatest of glories. That ultimately, listen, you and I will enter heaven. We will die. Don't lose heart. To get into the kingdom of heaven after being born again, you and I will die in this world and will enter in that instant into the presence of God. The Bible says, "To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord." Somebody say amen to that. That is good news. That is good. What's going to happen to you when I die? If you're a Christian, you're going to go to heaven. What if I'm not a Christian? Hell is hot, and God doesn't want you to go there. He gave His Son at the cross so that you would know forgiveness of sins, guilt removed, and a joyful life in this world. He doesn't want you to go there. You have to demand to go to hell by refusing Christ, by rejecting Jesus. It's amazing, but the moment the believer dies, we enter into the greatest of glories, the presence of Almighty God. Ultimately, our walk with God will reach its point of journey, and that is in His presence forevermore.
So here we go, church. Picking it up right now. Verses twelve to sixteen. Nothing can be greater. Third and final point. This than being able to see. Will you write that down, please? Being able to see. Why? Because being able to see causes us to inherit the promises of God. Being able to see. We see the promises of God. Verses twelve to thirteen. Now, listen as we read this. All of you, all of us, determine where you're at. And what he speaks. Therefore, you circle the word "therefore." It's awesome. What does that mean? Everything Paul is saying up into this point, he wraps up, he concludes with this. "Therefore" means everything I've been telling you, here's the point. "Since we have such hope." The word is concrete expectation, not a wishful thinking, but concrete expectation. "We use great boldness of speech. Unlike or versus opposing that of Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly at the end of what was passing away or expiring." That the gospel, please hear me on this. Are you guys with me? Don't think for a moment that the New Testament is another testament. Use your words and understand your words rightly. The New Testament that you have in your lap, which comprises the Bible, you have the Old Testament and the New. There, listen, there is not one that is of a certain genre and another of a certain genre, and somehow we've compiled these together because, uh, it's going to make a bestseller. That's not how it works. The Old Testament is just as much part of the New as the Old is, or the New is of the Old. Let me explain. What the Old Testament announces what is coming, the New Testament announces that it's come. What the Old Testament says about what God requires, the New Testament delivers. What the Old Testament proclaims as righteous but unable for us to reach, the New Testament says, "This is the righteousness I give to you." Great difference, but not another. We may use the word "another," but we are speaking loosely. What is concealed in the Old is revealed in the New. That's why Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verse seventeen, "Do not think that I've come to destroy the law and the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill." By the way, Jesus is putting His stamp of authority on the Old Testament, which you and I should do by reading it every day. "For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle," that is of the Hebrew language, "will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." How is the law going to be fulfilled? Well, Jesus said that during His earthly ministry, but listen, at the end of Jesus' life, with the resurrection and His ascension back to heaven, Jesus fulfilled all the demands of the law. And today, if you were saying, "I'm just gonna live good enough, I'm just gonna be good enough, I'm just gonna, uh, take on a new attitude for life," listen, what is that gonna avail you? What good is that? You may be better today than the person you were on December 31st, but you're no closer to heaven. You're no closer to being accepted by God. The only way that you can experience that kind of reception to God, as we've been teaching in this series, is to come to Christ, to ask Jesus to take full advantage of His sacrifice at the cross and apply it to your life. I mean, think about it. What good is it if everybody around you goes to heaven and you miss heaven all because you wouldn't accept that free gift? And it's amazing when you think about it, how free gifts can be offensive to people who has, who battles with pride. In this church right now, okay, put your hands down. How many of you are lying? Raise your hands. I mean, come on. Every one of us battles with pride. It may, listen, as Christians, it may not be as strong as it once was, but we still battle with it. Listen, if somebody says something that hurts your feelings, you know why your feelings get hurt? Because of pride. If they say, "Man, you're such a jerk, you're an absolute idiot," if you didn't have any pride, you would say, "Isn't that true? I couldn't agree with you more, right?" Somebody says, "Man, you know, you're so ugly, I mean, look at you." If you had no pride, you would say, "Oh, isn't it so true? I am just so, so ugly." But that's not what happens. "What do you mean? I can't believe..." And you know why? Pride. And when we begin to think, "Well, I'm okay with God, I'm doing pretty good," that comes from pride. No, we need Jesus Christ. What could be greater than to receive His free gift? In Acts chapter ten, verse forty-two, and by the way, this is Peter. Remember Peter, being a lawful Jew, faithful Hebrew all his life, his personal veil had fallen off. In Acts chapter ten, verse forty-two, the Bible says, "And He commanded us to preach," says Peter, "to the people and to testify that it is He that is Christ, who was ordained by God to be judged of the living and the dead." Did you know that Jesus will be the one who judges the living and the dead someday? "To Him all the prophets witness that through His name, whoever believes in Him," that is, puts their faith in Him, "will receive the remission of sins." Wow. That, listen, it's not just saying Jesus, uh, lived and died, and it's not just you saying, "Oh, I believe in Jesus." The word means much more than that. It means to believe that you have faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation, plus nothing, and from that, you're liberated and set free. Then you can see. When the Bible says, number one, look at verse twelve, "Since we have such boldness," or "such hope," I should say, "that is an amazing thing." The word is in the present tense. Now we have this hope. Now. It is a hope every Christian should be able to ascend to or agree with or say, "That's true in my life." I confess, that's true. Is that as a believer, I have such hope? And remember, it's not a hope that you wish for. It's a hope that is a concrete hope. And I sympathize, listen, I really do sympathize with non-Christians, or maybe legalists, maybe people who are, maybe they've even grown up in the church, but they've never been born again, as Jesus put it. And they might even flow in and out of church, or maybe you're here today and you're not a Christian, or you know Christians and you hear them talk. And I sympathize with you when you hear them say things like this to one another, "Oh, praise the Lord." Do you understand? That is absolute. That might as well be Latin to somebody. I've read this one, this has nothing with the Bible study. I read this week, it said Latin is dead. As dead can be. First, it killed the Romans, and now it's killing me. Anyway, that you can use that in your Latin class. Um, it means nothing when somebody says, "Praise the Lord." Listen, what does that mean? And I have to confess, Christians use that word too loosely. Or, "The Lord spoke to me." And listen, I know what you mean. You know what you mean, but a non-believer does not know what you mean. They think, "Loony hears from God."
[Music] We're guilty of speaking Christianese in a non-Christian world. We need to be careful. Non-believers don't get it. But one of the things I'm certain they don't get, and imagine in a hospital or something like that, when, when the doctor or the nurse gives them that bad news, and the Christian says, "Well, you know what? Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Bible says, 'Naked I came and naked I go.' Blessed be the name of God." Or we say things like, "Well, it's in the hands of the Lord." We look like lunatics to people who cannot see. We look crazy to people who have never had their eyes opened. We have such a confidence that it's not conjured up, it's a reality. And what do we say about that? Do we apologize for it? No. Why? Because it spawns boldness of speech. It spawns boldness of speech. I have seen Christians, look, you're looking at one of them, who was the most timid person until Jesus got a hold of my life. Or maybe your life. Not only is it true for my life, but I grew up not speaking to people because I stuttered so bad. I, I didn't talk to people. I avoided people at all costs because why would I get, why would I get near somebody I stuttered so terribly? And then I became a Christian, and I still stuttered. I asked my wife to marry me. How did I do it? I stuttered. She, she was patient, waiting. And yes, and uh-huh, yes, yikes. But I got to tell you, man, I always wanted to be quiet before I was a Christian. And then when I became a Christian, I don't know about you guys, but I cheated in school all my life. I'm able to take pictures with my eyes. I'm able to hear something and I never forget it. And so I just sat in class. I never opened a book unless I wanted to take a picture in my mind of something I needed for the test. So at the end of the month, I just spit up the answers. And by the way, that is cheating. You know, you can regurgitate anything and never come to knowing nothing. This is a dangerous truth. And then I got to become a Christian, and I got a Bible, and for the first time, I began reading the Bible. And I read the Bible, and then I wanted to read good Christian books. And I started reading books. I'd never finished a book in my life until I became a Christian. Why? Because God grabs a hold of you, and He opens your eyes so you can see, and you want to take in everything that He has done. And you want to learn about weather, you want to learn about bugs, you want to learn about hearts and brains and people and animals. Why? Because it's all God's doing. It's awesome. God does that. He wakes people up. And then you get bold because you know Him. It's not a boldness and arrogance. It's a boldness by revelation. It's, listen, I've got something to say. I used to say something, it was empty, but now I got something to say. And God changes your life. At the death of Jesus, the veil, listen, the veil of the temple was torn, the Bible says, from top to bottom, at the death of Jesus Christ. And that place was opened up there in Jerusalem, that temple. Why? What was God doing? God was showing us that by the offering of Jesus Christ, this hope and this boldness was made accessible now to all people. For thousands of years, what the priest only had access to. When Jesus died, the veil was torn open, signifying that everyone's got access to God. And that should breed boldness in your life. And I understand we all have different personalities, and boldness is going to be lived out differently. But the Bible is true, and you're going to have a boldness. You might be a quiet man, but you're on the golf course, and now you start telling your buddies about Jesus. You may be a teacher in the classroom, and you might be now boiling up on the inside, "I've got something to say." And in that teacher's lounge, or whatever, you begin to mention things about Jesus, and you're unashamed. It's awesome. This word, "great," before boldness, is a word that we all need to know about. It means vast, it means abundant, excessive, it means multiplied many times. Uh, think of the high priest. You guys going into the Holy of Holies. Did he, did he have that kind of excessive boldness? Have you read your Old Testament? The guy, listen, the high priest went in once a year. Are you guys with me? He went in once a year into the Holy of Holies, and he's got his blood offering because he's a sinner too. And the priest is making his way, and the children of Israel would tie a rope around his ankle, and on the edge of his garment, he had bells, little tinkly bells. And when he would walk in, they would imagine, let out more lines.
[Music] More line. He gets in there, and he's, and he offers up before the Holy of Holies an offering for the nation and for himself, once a year, the Day of Atonement. And if that priest was living in sin, known sin, the Bible says God would consume the dude on the spot. And then, listen, all the people outside are listening. Have you heard anything? For a while, I haven't heard a thing. Have you heard something that sounds like a bell? Not nothing. I heard little bells, and then I heard boom, a bunch of bells, and then I've heard no bells since. Can you imagine? Reel them in. They reel the guy in, and he comes out, man, the guy's fried. The Bible says we now, because Jesus went into such a place in heaven, offered up His own blood as our great High Priest, who's perfect, we get to enter into the presence of God with boldness. We don't have to tiptoe in. You say, "What if they found the Ark of the Covenant? What if Indiana Jones and Steven Spielberg found it?" What would happen? Are you ready? Absolutely nothing. If the Ark of the Covenant was right here in this sanctuary, you could touch it, take pictures of it, sit on it. Nothing. The Bible said it was only a shadow, a model, a type of that which is in heaven. And that economy now with God is gone. Jesus has come. It's an amazing, awesome thing. And then the word "boldness," the word in the original language means, here it is, a plain outspokenness, a frankness. The word means a directness, all wrapped in a confidence. And the priest never had that either. Do you remember when Jesus was preaching and teaching? What did the people say? They said, "How is it that this man speaks with such authority, not like the priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees of Israel?" Why? Amazing, because He was, in fact, the very Word of God. And now the Bible tells us, is this great news, church? The Bible tells us that we have this boldness if we would just believe God's Word. That we have this confidence that we don't need to tiptoe around regarding our faith. The world is dying right now because, listen, political correctness has said, "Keep your faith to yourself." Listen, I want to encourage you in holy civil disobedience. When the world tells you, "Don't talk about Jesus, don't pray in Jesus' name, sit in your corner and we'll wait for you to die to get off this world scene," listen, that's when you lovingly, graciously, but firmly, boldly stand up and say, "Listen, is it rather well for me to obey God or man? You decide. But as for me, I will obey the Lord." And you live for God everywhere. I had somebody tell me recently, "Pastor, if I were to stand up like you keep telling us to do, then I would be removed from our union, and then I wouldn't have any retirement." The Bible says, "The fear of man is a snare." Don't you think God is bigger than your retirement program? Some people may wonder if God is bigger than their union. Oh, God is bigger. We need to be careful, all of us, that we fear God more than anything of this earth. And it's not like you got to now get out there tomorrow and fear the Lord. No, because this is true, it ought to bubble up out of you. He said, "Man, okay, that's true. That's true. The Bible's true." Lord, tomorrow, when you pull up to your company, your office, the worksite, whatever, or you pull up to the kid's crib, "Dear Jesus, give me the wisdom and the boldness to burp this baby in Jesus' name." Or whatever it might be. What, what is your challenge tomorrow? Listen, attack it in the boldness of God, not obnoxiously, inside a deep, absolute confidence.
The second thing is this: being able to see the Word of God. To see it. The Bible says in John chapter one, verses one to three, and then verse fourteen. You guys all know it. "In the beginning," that is of creation, "was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." Verse four: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." Verse fourteen: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, the only honored, the only preeminent, the one and only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." There's nothing greater, my friend, than being able to see the Word of God. And listen, here's the big deal. We get right down now to where the rubber meets the road. Why in the world, listen carefully, why is it that there are extremely well-educated people who don't believe in God? And why is it that there are extremely well-educated people who do believe in God? You ever thought about that? How can you have a, how can, how can Sir Isaac Newton believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and say and honor that the Bible is the literal Word of God, given to man, who studied the book of Daniel for example, was his favorite book of the Bible? Sir Isaac Newton. Are you smarter than Newton? But he believed in Christ. He believed in Jesus. Michelangelo believed in Christ, believed in God, believed in the Bible. Are you smarter than him? Well, wait a minute. There's a lot of, what about Bertrand Russell? And what about, uh, Richard Dawkins? And what about all these others? Bright guys, no doubt. My argument is this: You got smart guys who don't believe in God, and smart guys who do. What does that mean? If you're in a logic class, everybody knows this. If you've taken a logic course, the reason why is that it has nothing to do with education. Did you get that? It has nothing to do with education. On the heels of the Enlightenment, or I should say, in the early on, uh, opening throws of the Enlightenment, people began to say, some people began to say, "Science will disprove God. Science will make God obsolete." Who said that? Every one of the people who didn't believe in God, who were very bright guys. The other guys who believed in God wound up concluding, "Wow, science gets me all excited because it shows me the details of how my God works." It's not education. It's what you do with the light that's in front of you. Can you see? How do you know you can see? When you look at the universe, when you take the Hubble and examine the intricacies of deep space, and you pull away from that incredible telescope, and then you say, "Oh my goodness, how wonderful is nothingness? How fantastic is accident? How glorious is meaningless?" Or do you pull away from that telescope and say, "This is so intricately designed. There must be a Creator. There must be an engineer behind it all." And I'll argue this, as I have in the past, there's nothing you can look at in this world that does not display an engineer. The Word of God, the Bible says here, verse fourteen, "But their minds were blinded, for until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament." Because the veil is that it can only be taken away in Christ. But even to this day, verse fifteen says, "When Moses is read," specifically Paul is referring to the first five books of the Bible, "a veil lies on their hearts." That there's a blindness. Their eyes and minds have been blinded. When somebody hears the gospel, some re-accept, and some reject. Why? Has nothing to do with education. It has to do with the position of your heart. Why are you a believer? Every Christian ought to be able to define and to defend why they're a believer. And in the same token, if you're not a believer, why are you not a believer? Church, listen, I want to mobilize you this morning and encourage you. The next time you talk to somebody who doesn't believe in God, will you ask them the most terrifying question they dread and pray to the God of nothing, um, that you never ask? And here's the question: The next time somebody says, "I don't believe in God," are you ready? Any five-year-old can do this. Ask them, "Why?" You'll stump them. They'll start to vomit or regurgitate answers that have been given to them. Mark my words, they're flawed. They will quickly begin to show you a faith placed in a dangerous place. That might be of faith even greater than your own, because you believe, and your faith is based upon fact. They believe on a dream, on wishful thinking, but they will sound like it's true. They will sound like it's real. Listen, I'll put this out before you today. I believe that unless you're able to see the Word of God, and God will do that, you can't see at all. Nicodemus was blind, was he not? He said, "Nicodemus wasn't blind." Oh, he was blind. It wasn't until he observed and watched closely the ministry of Jesus that we know at the cross, Nicodemus came. That same veil remains upon the eyes of many people today. And the context is speaking of the Jewish people today. Why don't more people believe in Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the Christ? Why don't they believe more? He's Jewish. He's from their line. The God of the Bible's Jewish. Did you know that? People will ask me, my ring. I have a ring. "Your people shall be my people, your God my God," in Hebrew, on my finger. And I've been on flights before, or airports before, at kiosks before, and somebody will say, "Oh, are you Hebrew? Are you a Jew?" I said, "No, I'm not, but my God is." It always freaks them out. I'm a Gentile. I'm Gentile, but my God's Jewish. Think of that. Pretty freaky, huh? I'll say that it's intellectually impossible to not see that Jesus Christ is the Messiah from the Old Testament. I think it's logically impossible, historically, emotionally, reasonably impossible to not see that Jesus is the Christ, just from the Old Testament. My dear friends, listen, when we go to Israel, or when we do meet up with Jewish people and share with them from the Old Testament only, never the New, you, I hope by now, can show from Genesis to Malachi that not only, not only is Jesus the Jesus of the Old Testament, His name is there, His birthplace is there, His mission is there, it's all there in blazing technicolor. And they'll look in the book, "Interesting, interesting." And you think you're getting through, and then they'll go, "But that can't be true." You think there's a little bit of line? There comes the light. The veil is why? Because this thing of pride blinds us to being able to see. And it's exhibited this way: "I can do it myself. I'll do it myself. Nothing valuable can be free. I'll do it myself, and I'll earn that place." That's not what the Word of God teaches. The Bible tells us in many places that Christ alone has the power, is the qualifier, is authorized to remove from us the grip of the law that blinds us to the truth. The law was and does point us to Christ, but when we read the law wrong and think, "I can do this, I can keep the commandments, I can be good enough," we insult the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ, and we enforce that veil upon our eyes.
There's a great example for us. Grab your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter ten. And I'm going to go really fast because I'm really in trouble here. Mark chapter ten, verse forty-six. "Now they came to Jericho. And as He went out of Jericho, that is Jesus, His disciples now, look, He's leaving the town, His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus the son of Timaius." Number one, watch this. "Sat by the road begging." So he's on the outskirts of town, blind man begging. Verse forty-seven: "And when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth," underline that. When he heard, he, he can't see, he's blind. He heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. Number two, "He began to cry out, saying," number three, "Jesus, Son of David, hey, that's the Messiah term. This man heard at some point in time that Jesus is the Messiah, and now he hears Jesus is passing by. Son of David, Messiah, have mercy on me." Verse forty-eight: "Then many warned him to be quiet." Stop right there. Leave it on the screen. Church, come on. If you were blind and you heard that the guy who had been opening the eyes of the blind was walking by, would you be polite? What's wrong with us? Okay, let's go to church. We're going to go to church now like this. We're all punching each other at a hockey game, but at church, it's like, "Okay, who's that?" Church now, are you desperate this morning? I hope you're desperate. When you hear rumors about some Jew opening the eyes of the blind, and now you hear this rumor, he's near you, I suggest you, if you care about being blind or not, you throw off the yoke of politeness and you say, "Son of David, have mercy." Right? You, there's nothing that can keep you away from Him. What's happening here? The man is blind. Is he now really? What's that saying? "There are none so blind as those who refuse to see." Does this guy want to see? Listen, I mean this with all due respect and love. Don't quote me literally on what I'm saying right here. It's not what I mean. I don't think Jesus cares about his blindness. What I don't think Jesus cares one bit about his blindness. Jesus knows that this man wants to see. As a secondary thing, how do you know? I know with confidence because he says, "Son of David." Go search the Bible, see how few people ever call Jesus by his actual title, "Son of David." Did you know that's who He is? This guy got it. He had heard about Jesus, and hearing about Jesus, his eyes began to open. And verse forty-nine says, "So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called." Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer, arise, He is calling you." Oh, now everyone's on his side. Now shut up, sit down, stay in your corner, you dope. Where's your manners? The Messiah who opens eyes is coming by, and you're yelling like a maniac. Be polite, sit in the corner. And then Jesus says, "Bring that guy that's making all the noise over here." Oh, what a, hey, good guy. What a wonderful dude you are. Come on. He calls for you. What a bunch of losers these guys are.
[Music] And you got to love this guy. Look at verse fifty. Can you see this happening? His eyes are not open yet. What does he do? Verse fifty: "And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus." I could just see this guy. He hears what he's calling me. He stands up. He can't see a thing. He throws off his garment, which it's, it's a beggar's garment. I don't have time to get into this. I'll just say this. You ever seen somebody who works for like, um, you know, like Walmart or or DuPont or whatever, and or they're a sales rep, and then, you know, they get the little thing on there, "I work for DuPont," has their name on it. "My name's Joe." He's wearing the kind of covering that announces that he's a poor man. What does he do with it? That's it. You see the faith developing now. The guy is able to see, but he can't even see yet. He throws off his beggar's, his official union beggar's garment. There must be somebody here from the union today. I keep picking on that. It's not even in my notes. Just kidding. Kind of. He throws off the garment. He rose up. By the way, when you rise up in the culture as a beggar, you just forfeited any opportunity of getting anything from anybody. If you stand up, people say, "He's able to stand, he can feed himself. I'm moving on." That's why beggars always sat begging. He stands up. This guy's ruining his career. He stands up and he came to Jesus. I love this. He didn't need someone to take him there. I betcha he could, because you know how perceptive deaf people can be, or blind people, I should say, can be. He's probably listening with his ears in such a way. I bet you he would have found Jesus without anybody even leading them there. You can do the same today, by the way. And faith being developed, faith moving, being stirred. Jesus asks the most holy, wonderful, ridiculous question you've ever heard. "What do you want Me to do for you?" What? Jesus says to the man, "What do you want Me to do for you?" You want, you want a new pair of sandals? Are you, you want a new coat? Isn't it amazing? You see, this is kind of insane. Why was Jesus asking the, um, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The guy is blind. What's Jesus doing? Listen, Jesus does this to us. "Oh God, I can't believe it happened. I don't know what I'm gonna do." And Jesus will say things like this to your heart: "What do you want Me to do for you?" One, "Oh, I'd like to have a hot dog right now and a cup of Coke." Are you kidding? He knows what you need before you even ask. He's trying to draw out of you a confession of faith. Say it. He's saying, "Say it." The Bible says, "If you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and confess that with your mouth, you're going to be saved." Say the obvious. "What do you want Me to do for you?" And the blind man said to Jesus, look at this, is the sixth thing that he does. "Rabboni, Master, Teacher, Rabbi, that I may receive my sight." Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way, your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight. And what did he do? Number eight. Number seven, he received. Number eight, he followed Jesus on the road. Can you imagine? Oh, I wish we had more time. This guy's going down the road, probably maybe, you know, like a lot of church people, they're like, "Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!" Not this guy. There's people walking with Jesus. Yeah, yeah, but it's gonna be a great day. Welcome with Jesus. What is gonna happen today? And they're walking along. Not this guy. This dude is probably out front, skipping, dancing, like, you know, the guy in Fiddler on the Roof, going crazy. And people, I bet you people who, "What's with that guy? Who's, what's with him? How come he's not like, uh, kind of like all calmed down like everybody else?" "Oh, that guy? Oh, Jesus just gave him his sight. Jesus just opened up his eyes." See, the whole thing was the heart, though. It wasn't the eyeballs. That's nothing. It was his heart. And so I'm gonna ask you these things. Have you thought about these things? He had just enough faith to cry out to Jesus unashamed. He had just enough faith to believe that Jesus, in fact, could be the promised Messiah. Do you? He had just enough faith to literally act upon what he was thinking and hearing about Jesus. He began to make some noise. He had just enough faith to take Jesus at His word. He had just enough faith to decide that this One is worthy of my devotion. And I want to encourage you this morning that no matter who you are this morning, I believe that you have that ability to have that kind of faith if you'll just open your heart to Him.
In verse sixteen, we end with being able to see the very heart of God. Verse sixteen says, "Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." Can someone say amen to this? Is this not radically, incredibly true? I used to think I could see before I was a Christian. I thought I knew stuff about the world and the direction of stuff and how I ought to decide this, that, or the other. And then I became a Christian, and only then, not only could you see, there would be people who would come up to you and talk to you like they did before, and you would not only see, you could see things that your eyes would never see, that that person is an absolute weirdo, or that is a wonderful person. You see things back beyond the words and into a heart. And isn't it amazing? The word Koinonia, that in the Christian community, where God is at work, God draws His people together in the fellowship of the Spirit. That is discernible by the heart. It is miraculous. And I really end. You can close your Bibles. I'm not kidding. Have you turned to the Lord? Has the veil been lifted from your eyes? I wrote these thoughts down. You can close your eyes if you want. Just listen to this. The word to "turn" here in the original Greek language means to change from one form into another form. The word here to "turn" means to be converted, as water would be to gas or a vapor. The word means to go from one state of reality to a new state of reality. Have you turned? Are you hearing God today? Is God speaking to you? If you are of the Old Covenant, are you of Judaism today? Then listen, these last three weeks have been dedicated from the Bible to show you that you have no access to heaven based on your works. To you, salvation is living a holy and righteous life dedicated to Yahweh, the Creator God of the universe. You fast, you worship, you observe the holy days, and you expect to get into heaven. And God says, "You're not." That's not what I want. Are you a Hindu today? In your Hinduism, it's all based on works. You have three steps in your process of salvation: one is your devotion, the second is your knowledge to obtain enlightenment, third is that your karma would fulfill responsibilities that you might hope to achieve salvation. You have no guarantee. Are you a Buddhist today? It's all based on works. Your life's goal is Nirvana, eight levels of transcendental bliss pursuit to come to a state of nothingness. You become a Buddha when nothing exists. Your own righteousness, your own resolve, your own speech, your own actions, your own occupation, your own effort, your own contemplation, your own meditation to achieve the state of Buddha. The Bible says, "No." Are you a Muslim today? It's all based on works. For the Muslim to live a life that is all based upon mimicking Muhammad and to please the Allah of Islam, that you might possibly earn paradise. It's all works. And God says, "No" to that. Maybe today you're a legalistic person, or you're in a cult, and it's all based on works, self-merit, and self-performance. The Bible says, "No" to that. In the name of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, right now, right where you're at, you need to put your faith, all of your weight, body, soul, and spirit, upon Jesus and Him alone. That you cry out to Him, that you say, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And in this sanctuary, some of your hearts are saying, "Yes, I can do this, and I want to do this." Well, my friend, that's because God has been calling out to you, and you've opened up your heart. It's time for you to stand up and to follow Him. Some of you are hearing the same challenge and saying, "Nope, not going to do it." That's because your heart is hard. You're refusing Him. And soon you're going to get up, and you're going to walk out. But Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but through Me." Right now, right where you're at, will you say yes to Jesus? He's waiting to hear from you. Father, thank You. We thank You for opening our eyes that we might see. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.
[Music]