Blind Disciples; Sighted Beggar - Blind Spot Week 1

Blind spot, three sermons in a row, three passages in Luke chapter 18 and 19, all about vision,

Luke 18 · chapter mention

all about sight, all about finding and looking for the right thing.

And today's sermon is entitled, Blind Disciples Sighted Beggar.

Blind Disciples Sighted Beggar.

Just Opposition. That's the word that I want to talk about.

Just Opposition, say it with me. Just Opposition, say it again, say it again.

Just Opposition, what is that word? It's a literary word. It's a word that storytellers

have used for thousands and thousands of years throughout human history to help people clearly

understand difficult concepts. Just Opposition, say it with me.

Just Opposition. It's where we take two similar things and

lay them out side by side so that we can compare and contrast them.

In fact, a literary professor actually put this slide together and it really kind of

helps us understand it. It says, Just Opposition, putting two separate things, ideas, next to

one another or near each other to highlight their differences.

An example of that would be sweet and sour sauce or the tortoise and the hare.

They juxtapose one another, two things line by line, side by side to compare and contrast.

Say Juxt Opposition. Very good.

Now when two people in a story are compared, it's called a character foil.

You say, I didn't know I was in an English class today. Welcome, I'm Professor Tice.

What is a character foil? Let's go ahead and look at this.

What is a character foil? A character foil is a juxtaposition between

two characters whose personalities or backgrounds are starkly dissimilar to individuals who

are compared, different backgrounds, different story arcs, but they're compared to each

other. Examples of this would be like Cinderella

and her stepsisters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.

I'm a Slytherin. Any other Slytherins here?

All right, no wonder we like each other. We're the secret villains.

Character foil, juxtaposition, two characters compared.

Last thought before I teach the passage, ironic juxtaposition.

Ironic juxtaposition. That's where there are two characters or two things,

side by side, and the more you compare the two, the more irony you see. There's an ironic

element to this comparison. One of the best illustrations of that for

my childhood was a movie I remember coming out when I was a young teenager.

It was called The Hunchback of Notre Dame. How many of you remember The Hunchback of

Notre Dame? How many of you remember this? How many of you say Notre Dame? How many

of you say Notre Dame? How many of you say Notre Dame? You say it correctly, right?

How many of you say Notre Dame? You say it incorrectly, very good. All right.

Stop it. All right. And you compare this. You see this story.

Now this story is an ironic juxtaposition, a comparison of two characters.

One Quasimodo, who is a Hunchback, a monstrous type of an individual, and Frollo, a community

leader, a religious leader, a political leader. This ironic juxtaposition compares to individuals

and this story is set up brilliantly, especially in the 1990s cartoon, because the narrator

of the story actually begins with this fascinating line at the end of the opening song. Here's

the line. Are you ready for it? If you like literature storytelling, you're going to love

this. Here's the line. Here is the riddle to guess if you can. Who is the monster and

who is the man? Ironic juxtaposition. And by the time you get to the end of the story,

the one who looks like a monster is the real man and the one who looks like a man is the

real monster. Ironic juxtaposition. Luke chapter 18, the writer of the Gospel of Luke does

Luke 18 · chapter mention

exactly the same thing as he compares two individuals. The two individuals he compares

are the disciples of Jesus and a disabled, blind, homeless man. Juxtaposition. Ironic

juxtaposition. The disciples were the good guys. Do you believe the disciples were the

good guys? If you do say amen. Disciples are the good guys. The homeless, disabled, blind

guys, just some random person, especially in the Greco-Roman society, they were considered

to be worthless. And in this story, we see a comparison that will blow your mind. If

you're ready for it, give me an amen. That's a long introduction, pastor, but you need it

to understand this passage. The person of the disciples. Let's go ahead and talk first

of all about the blind disciples. And then in the second part of the sermon, we're going

to talk about the blind disciples. Second part is going to be the sighted beggar. Blind

disciples sighted beggar. Let's look at the blind disciples first and foremost in the

passage. Luke chapter 18 and verse 31, taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, listen,

Luke 18 · chapter mention

oftentimes he would take his disciples and teach in a large setting like this, and then

sometimes he would take his twelve or the sixteen or the twenty or the forty that were

following him really close and would say, I got a special message for you. This is one

of those special messages for just the disciples. He said, listen, we're going up to Jerusalem

where all of the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true.

He says, fellas, I want you to know something. We're about to go up to Jerusalem. Now this

is interesting because right now in the story of Jesus, they are on the other side of the

Jordan River. They had come from Galilee through Samaria. Now they have crossed over the Jordan,

spent time in the land of Priya. They're going to cross back over the Jordan, go through

the town of Jericho. Jericho is at the base of the mountains where Jerusalem is at the

height of the mountains. And they are on their way to go up to Jerusalem so that Jesus can

die. This story takes place three to four weeks before the death of Jesus. Now if you've

been studying with us for the last year and a half, we've been going through the entire

story of Jesus' life. And over the next four months, we're going to see the rest of the

book of Luke. And you are not going to want to miss. I'm telling you a single Sunday because

every single one of these sermons, every single one of these passages tell us more

and more about Jesus in the last three to four weeks of his life than anything you've

ever heard about Jesus that matters most. And as they're about to go up to Jerusalem,

Jesus pulls his disciples aside and he says, fellows, I want you to know we're going to

go up to Jerusalem. And when we get there, all of the predictions about the Son of Man

are going to be fulfilled. He calls himself the Son of Man. Say that with me, Son of Man.

Say it with me, Son of Man. Say it again, Son of Man. Let it roll around in your mind.

Son of Man. Why does he call himself this? There are many disciples to describe Jesus.

I'm, excuse me, many descriptions that describe Jesus, many titles. He is the Son of God.

He is the man from Nazareth. He is the rabbi carpenter. But the very number one term that

he refers to himself as, the number one term he calls himself, do you know what it is?

Son of Man. The Son of Man in Hebrew. The Son of... Do you know what the word man is

in Hebrew? Do you know what it is? Adam, Adam. Literally, the Son of Adam is going to Jerusalem

and all of the predictions and the prophecies that you heard about him are going to come

true. And then Jesus goes through the predictions. Look at what he says. This is going to blow

your mind. He looks at his disciples and says, he will be handed over to the Romans. He will

be mocked and treated shamefully. He will be spit upon. He's saying, three weeks from

now, I'm going to be turned over to the authorities. They're going to beat me. They're going to

mock me. They're going to spit upon me. And then they will beat. They will flog me. They

will whip and then kill me. But on the third day, don't worry, I will rise again. Aren't

you thankful Jesus rose from the grave? Can I get an amen? But look at this. Look at the

next verse. It's going to blow your mind. But they didn't understand any of this. The

significance of his words were hidden from them and they failed to grasp what he was

talking about. Jesus looked him square in the eye and said, we've got to go up to Jerusalem

because when we get there, the Son of Man is going to be taken, killed, crucified. Don't

worry, I'm going to be buried and rise from the grave. Everything will be okay. And they're

like, huh? I don't get it. I really don't. Like imagine if this happened with your friend.

Or imagine if your friend and you and a group of friends were like, let's go to San Diego.

And you're like, yeah, San Diego. And the guy looks at you and says, okay, we're going

to go to San Diego. We're going to go to the zoo. We're going to get some dinner al-qayyoti

in the old town. And then I'm going to be taken by a gang. They're going to beat me

with whips. Then I'm going to die. Then I'm going to rise from the grave. Three days later,

everything's going to be fine. You too would be like, huh? But you definitely want to forget

that that's what was said. These disciples not only didn't understand, the Bible says

in the next verse, they were blinded to this truth. They were blind to it. Look what it

says. Look what it says. It says, the significance of His words were hidden from them and they

failed to grasp what He was talking about. Blind. They couldn't see what was right in

front of them. Isn't it terrible to be able to have the truth right in front of you and

you're blinded to it? Anybody from the 1990s here, anybody that survived the 90s, would

you raise your hand? How many of you? Okay. Yeah. 90s babies. All right. Yeah. There's

my older millennials right there. Hey, all right. How many of you remember a magic eye

art? You remember a magic eye art? Yeah, it looked like this. If you remember, there were

these fuzzy paintings and it was a big deal in the 90s. How many of you remember this?

Right? Right? It was the internet and this, but they just created both. Internet stuck

around. This went away. And the idea of these, where if you looked at it in a certain way,

there was a hidden image right in front of it. You remember? How many of you were really

good at this? Like immediately, like cross your eyes, there it is. How many of you were

really good? Raise your hand. It's okay. Be proud of yourself. You're this good, right?

How many of you were like me? You could never see it at all. Like never at all. How many

of you were like me? You, like it got frustrating. People are like, oh, you have to cross your

eyes. Look really close. Move your head back. How many of this has happened to you? I hated

that. I hated that. And so I got to confess. So I would just lie. They're like, do you

see it? I'm like, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like it's awesome. Like that's, wow. Wow. That's

cool. That's cool. You're like, yeah, that's amazing. I'm like, they're like, it's a beautiful

ship. I'm like, yeah, pirate ship. They're like, it's a cruise ship. You know, I'm like,

but I didn't want, I couldn't see it. It was right in front of me, but I was blind to it.

Jesus was right in front of them and they were blind to it. Why? Because they don't

want to see it. Can I ask you a question? What is it that God has been trying to tell

you and you choose to be blind to it? Like what is the thing that God keeps trying to

show you and you're like, I don't want to see it. What is it in your life right now?

Maybe for you, you need to get saved. You need to get baptized. You need to become a

member of the church. You need to join a small group. For some of you, you know community

is your answer. You need other men and women in your life, but you're like, you're blind

to it. And then you go around complaining to others and to God, what's wrong? And God's

like, do this and you're like, I don't want to see. You're blind to it. You choose to

be blind to it. It's right in front of you, friend. For some of you, it's Jesus himself.

You say, I don't know what's going to happen. My life needs to be saved. And the answer

is, he's right there. Come forward. Talk to me. We'll go to coffee. I'll talk to you

how you can be saved, how you can follow Jesus. Now, what were the disciples blind to?

Did the disciples believe in Jesus? Yes or no? Yes, they did, but they were still blind

to a few things. And I want to share with you what they were blind to. Anybody here interested

in history, if you are, raise your hand. You like history? How many of you like history?

Okay. This next part of the sermon, you're going to dig like deeply. You're going to

be like amazing. Now, if you don't like history, I'm not going to raise your hand. This next

part of the sermon, it's going to be rough for you. Okay? The next five to seven minutes

are going to be like, oh, pastor, can you tell us a story about Disneyland later? Okay,

later. Because this next part is deep history, but it's going to be really important for

your Christian faith. What were the disciples blind to? Here's what they were blind to.

They were blind to what we call, are you ready for this? What we call the vacant throne and

the way to the throne? The disciples were blind to the vacant throne and the way to

the throne. You say, what do you mean the vacant throne? Okay, little history. To understand

the concept of the Bible, one of the key themes about the Bible is there is an empty vacant

throne. It's introduced in the book of Genesis, and it's filled up by the time you get to

the book of Revelation. There's a throne and nobody's in it. And there have been stories

and movies and television series that have kind of spun this concept of fighting for

a throne, right? That concept goes all the way back to the Bible. There's a vacant empty

throne that's introduced in Genesis, and somebody needs to fill that throne. It's introduced

in Genesis chapter one in verse 26 when God creates Adam and Eve, Adam, Adam. What does

the word Adam mean again? What does it mean? Man, the son of Adam, Jesus, the son of Adam.

And God creates Adam and Eve, and he says to them, he puts them in the garden, and he

says to them in Genesis chapter one, go ahead and look out on the screen, Genesis chapter

one verse 26 and 27, he says, I want you to be fruitful and multiply and fill up the earth.

And everybody remembers that that's one of the first things that God tells Adam and Eve,

have children, have children. That was the first of two commandments, but there was a

second commandment. The first one was be fruitful and multiply. The second one that often is

forgotten, forgotten is this, take dominion. I have given you dominion over the fish of

the sea, foul of the air, the creeping beasts and the creeping things. Mankind, man, Adam,

was given the throne to rule and have dominion over the earth. Now you say, well, that's

for men, not women. No, relax. This is not the Barbie movie. Amen. All right. It's a

joke. It's a joke. It's a joke. I haven't seen it yet. Okay. Adam, the concept of man,

is mankind, Anthropos in Greek. It means mankind, men and women. Listen to me. We humans have

a right to rule over this planet. You say, no, no, God is the ruler of this planet. Actually,

according to what you see in the Bible, God created the planet to be co-ruled. Him sitting

on one throne and on his right hand is supposed to be Adam, man, dominion, kingship. If deep

inside of you, you've always thought of yourself as a strong king or queen, the answer is you

were created to be a king and queen. You were created to have dominion over this planet,

to have dominion, to rule and to reign, not over one another, but over God's creation.

You say, well, if that's the way God created it, to be co-ruled, God and man, co-ruling

the earth, what happened? Good question. The answer to that question is Adam and Eve, they

screwed up. Do you remember the story? Don't eat of that tree. They're like, what tree?

They walk over to the tree, they eat of the tree. The moment they eat of the tree, God

says, get out of the garden. They not only lost the garden, they lost the throne, the

throne of Adam. And now you're stuck in history. There's an empty throne throughout all of

human history. It sits at the right hand of God the Father. And there have been all sorts

of men throughout history who have tried to sit in that throne. Pharaoh of Egypt is an

example, tried to rule over the world. Didn't work, didn't work. He did not live up to what

the son of Adam should be. It wasn't just Pharaoh. It was Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon.

It was Xerxes of Persia. It was Alexander the Great of the Greeks. It was every emperor

of Rome throughout history. More recently, it was men like Napoleon or Hitler. They tried

to sit in the throne of Adam and rule mankind. But they were all unworthy. It's not just

the Gentile nations, it's also the people of God. The people of God had their heroes,

Saul the First King, David the Second King, Solomon the Third King. All of them tried

to sit and rule in the throne of Adam. But Saul was unworthy because of his pride and

David was unworthy because of his adultery and violence. And Solomon was unworthy because

of his idolatry. And so even the people of God could not fill this throne of Adam.

And so now we're reminded of what Jesus meant when he looked at his disciples and said,

guys, we're going to go up to Jerusalem. And when we get there, the son of Adam is going

to be crucified. He's going to be killed. Don't worry, he's going to be buried and

rise from the grave. Why does he call himself the son of Adam, son of Adam, the son of man?

Well, because 700 years before the time of Jesus, there was a prophet named Daniel. And

Daniel wrote a prophecy about when the Messiah would come. And in chapter seven of the book

of Daniel, Daniel marks through all of the great rulers that would come through history

up until the time of Jesus. He talks about Nebuchadnezzar. He talks about the Greeks.

He talks about the Persians. He talks about the coming Romans. And he says none of them

will be able to take this throne from Adam. But then he says in Daniel chapter seven,

look at this, this is amazing. Daniel chapter seven, verse 13, as my vision continued that

night, I saw someone like, what does he say? I saw someone like, what does he say? I saw

someone like what? The son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. And he approached the

ancient one that's God, the ancient one that's God. And he was led into the presence of God.

And he was given authority. What was he given? He was given authority and honor and sovereignty

over all the nations of the earth. What did Daniel foresee? Daniel foresaw that there was

somebody called the son of Adam who would come and he would claim the throne of Adam.

And when Jesus comes, Jesus says, hey, I'm here. I'm the son of Adam. It's my throne.

Wow. So Jesus did take the throne. He sits upon the throne. From the moment he died upon

the cross, he sits upon the throne. He's rightfully sitting upon the throne. That's why when we

say don't worry, God is on his throne, it's true. Not only is God on his throne, but on

his right hand sits the son of Adam. When we say son of man, when Jesus talks about being

the son of man, it isn't just highlighting his humanity. It's highlighting his divinity.

The son of Adam has finally sat upon the throne and has been for now 2,000 years. What were

they blind to? They were blind to the vacant throne, but the disciples were also blind

to the way to the throne. This is where men throughout history have lost it. Men and women.

Can I get an amen? We think the way to victory is by conquering everybody else. And so the

disciples thought, yeah, let's go up to Jerusalem. We'll kill everybody that's bad there. Then

we'll go to Rome and kill everybody that's bad there. And Jesus says that's not what's

going to happen. The way to the throne is not through conquering. The way to the throne

is through the thorns. The way to the crown is not through conquering. The way to the

crown is through the cross. Why? Because Jesus knew the prophecies. He was the fulfillment

of the prophecies. He remembers what Isaiah said. Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah, say Isaiah.

Say it again, Isaiah. It's important to remember for the rest of the story. Say Isaiah. Isaiah

the prophet said in Isaiah chapter 53, when the Messiah comes, this is what it's going

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

to look like. They're going to beat him. They're going to whip him. He's going to be a man

of sorrow acquainted with grief. He'll bear our sorrows. He's going to be whipped and

chastised for our sins. All of our iniquities are going to be placed on him. And all we

like sheep are going to run away from him. But he will stand before his judgment, his

accusers, and he will be silent instead of speaking back to them. All of this was prophesied

by Isaiah. The prophecy was that when the Son of Man came, Messiah, to get the throne

back, the way to get the throne was suffering and death. The disciples didn't want to see

that. They were blind to it. But that's exactly what happens. The cross is before the crown.

The thorns do come before the throne. And what we're going to see when we get to Luke

Luke 22 · chapter mention

chapter 22 in a few months at the end of our study, Jesus is going to be standing. There's

a, I think I have a picture of this. Jesus is going to be standing before the Sanhedrin.

And as Jesus stands before this council, they're going to say, so you think you're the Messiah,

do you? Go ahead and do some miracle. There's this fight. He's standing in court about to

be killed. And look at the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 22. It's going to blow your

Luke 22 · chapter mention

mind. Jesus says in Luke chapter 22, Jesus was led before the high council and they said,

Luke 22 · chapter mention

tell us who you are. Are you the Messiah? But he replied, if I told you that I was the

Messiah or if I asked you a question, you wouldn't listen to me anyway. And then Jesus

says this. Jesus says, but from now on, the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power

at God's right hand. Jesus at his own trial looks at the people and says, if I tried to

tell you who I was, you wouldn't believe me, but I will try to tell you. I'm the Son of

Man, the Son of Adam. The next time you see me, I'm going to be sitting on the throne.

It's a virtual mic drop moment. That's why they freak out and they take Jesus, they

rip out his beard, they put a crown of thorns on his head to mock the idea that he's the

King, the Son of Adam. And then they murder him. Who murders him? Mankind. Man, Adam,

kills the King. The way to the cross, the way to the crown was through the cross, the

way to the throne was through the thorns. All of this is spoken of in the rest of the

New Testament. If you're a student of the Word, suddenly all of these dots start lining

up. That's why in the book of Hebrews it says that we have a high priest who did suffer

for our sins, and the moment he suffered for our sins, he ascended into heaven and he sat

down. What did he sit down upon? The throne of Adam.

You know in the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 4 and 5, you are introduced to the

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

throne room of God. And when you get to the throne of God, what happens? On the right

hand of the big throne is a smaller throne. And who is standing beside that throne? Jesus,

a lamb as it had been slain. And he has the authority to take the scroll and open those

seals. It all connects, friend. How many of you love history? Can I see you raise your

hand? How many of you love history? All right, very good. Put your hands down. For the rest

of you, we're done. Can I get a, can I get a, wow, wow, wow, blind these beggars were,

or these disciples were. This is an ironic juxtaposition. Luke introduced us to disciples

who were blind. Now he's going to introduce us to a blind man who can see Jesus perfectly.

The blind man, now I'm going to call the sighted beggar. Look at what the story goes on to say.

Look at what it says. The second part of our sermon, we're almost done. As Jesus approached

Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. This is a beautiful storytelling

device. But it's not just a story. This actually happened. And the book of Luke wants us to

see them compared to each other. The disciples who could see nothing. And a blind man who

could see everything. There was a blind beggar sitting on the road. And when he heard a noise

of the crowd going by, he asked, hey, hey, hey, I can't see what's happening, what's

happening. And they looked over at him and said, hey, hey, Jesus of Naz, the Nazarene

was going by. So they told him that Jesus was here. Now, the man had never seen Jesus,

nor had man ever met Jesus, but he had heard about Jesus. Can I ask you a question? Have

you heard about Jesus? Some of you have been following Jesus for many, many years. Awesome.

Some of you have only really heard about Jesus. And some of you are a little turned off by

Jesus because some people that you know said they followed Jesus, but they're actually

idiots and they're not real followers of Jesus. And so you think because those idiots called

themselves followers of Jesus that Jesus might be a bad guy and he's not a bad guy, those

people were just idiots. And you've heard about Jesus and here's what I'm trying to

tell you. Here's what I'm trying to say. If you have a chance to see him, don't close

your eyes. Don't be willfully blind. This blind man who could see nothing, could see clearly,

I need Jesus in my life. And so he starts shouting out. As soon as he hears Jesus was

going by, he starts shouting, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Oh, that's interesting.

He calls out the Son of David. Why does he call him the Son of David? Because though

Jesus called himself the Son of Man, those who believed he was the Messiah called him

the Son of David. Say, why Son of David? Well, because in that ancient culture, there was

a prophecy given to the greatest king of Israel, David, the little boy who killed a giant grew

up to be king. He failed. He could not sit on the throne of Adam. However, God came to

him in 2 Samuel chapter 7 and said to David, David, though you have failed, I'm going to

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

send you a special Son. He will be the Prince of peace and the King of kings. He will sit

upon the throne of Adam and the sit upon the throne of David forever. And everybody over

the next 600 years who believed that, over a thousand years who believed that prophecy,

referred to the Messiah as the Son of David, the coming king. He believed the prophecies.

The difference between the disciples and the blind man is they both knew about the Bible,

but only one group in the story believes the Bible. And it's the blind disciple. It's the

blind beggar. And so he calls out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me. You know that

image of the empty throne? I can imagine the blind man could picture in his mind the empty

throne left. And he thinks to himself, Jesus is here to fill the throne. And then he remembers,

there's another prophecy. See, throughout history, and it still happens to this day, disabled

people are not only undervalued. Disabled people are underappreciated and honestly, we

don't think much of them. So we see this blind beggar homeless guy and we think, there's

not much that he would know. Yet here this man, every prophecy about Jesus he had ever

heard somehow got stuck in his mind and he believed it. Because he remembers at some

point hearing a prophecy that when the Messiah would come, Isaiah chapter 35, look at Isaiah

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

chapter 35, Isaiah chapter 35, that when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind,

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

unplug the ears of the deaf, the lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak

will sing for joy. And so now there's a blind beggar homeless guy sitting in Jericho, hey,

what's going on? Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, Jesus, I think he's the Messiah. Son of David,

have mercy on me and his mind, he's remembering, the Messiah can heal blind people. And so

he shouted out, please, hey, get him. Now you would think, you would think the entire

crowd would be like, okay, we got to help this blind guy get to Jesus, right? If you

were there, you want to help the blind guy get to Jesus, right? But look at what the

crowd does, look at the next verse, the crowd says, this is so bad, the crowd says, be quiet.

The people in front of him yelled at him, but he only shouted louder. So everybody

says, shut up man, nobody wants to, Jesus doesn't have time for you. And all of a sudden,

instead of getting discouraged and sad and like disappointed and depressed, he shouts

even louder, Jesus, can I just stop and say this, when you see Jesus and want to start

pursuing Jesus, there are going to be a lot of people in your life who try to pull you

away from that. A lot of people are going to be shut up, who do you think you are better

than us and try to pull you down. And all you need to do is have the same faith that

this man does and shout out, bigger, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And then the

Bible says that Jesus heard his voice and he stopped and said, hey, bring him to me.

So they bring him to Jesus and he's standing there before Jesus. And look at what he says,

oh, I love this part. Jesus looks at him and says, what do you want me to do for you? Now,

to me, that's the funniest part of the story. It's funny to me because I have a weird sense

of humor. Anybody else, weird sense of humor? And sometimes I know Jesus gets sarcastic.

I'm not sure if this is one of those times. Maybe not, maybe, I don't know, it's just

the way I think. The guy's been shouting out, I need you, have mercy on me. And then the

guy's brought before Jesus, a blind man who can't see, who has no job, has no prospects,

he's dying and begging. And he says, and Jesus says, so what it'll be? If I was one of this

episodes, I'd be like, it's pretty obvious he's blind, you know what I mean? Like, Jesus,

let me help you out, you know, like, you can't see he's blind, you gotta do the blind thing.

Jesus wanted the man to verbalize for himself. I want to see. I want to see. What is it you

need from Jesus? Friend, why don't you go to him and say, Jesus, this is what I need

from you? I want to see. And then Jesus says, your faith has healed you. Huh. Instantly the

man could see and he followed Jesus, praising God and all who saw it praised God too. The

man who could see could see. The disciples were still blind. By the way, the disciples

would stay blind all the way through to the resurrection when they were surprised. Jesus

walks in the room and they're like, what are you doing here? And Jesus is like, I told

you, like, what was going to happen? How are you surprised? Because they don't want to see.

On Sunday afternoons, I have the privilege of having a special meeting. I love preaching

to large crowds like you, but I really as a pastor love one-on-one conversations. I

love talking to you. I really enjoy small groups. If you don't have a small group, man,

you're missing the best part of Christianity. And on Sunday afternoons, I have a small group

of what I call the Young Men's Mentorship Program. Catchy title, right? It's very long.

But every year between January and December, I take a new group of young men 18 to 30 years

old and it's invite only. Now, if you're in that age group and you really want to be involved

with that, you can see me and approach and we'll talk about whether or not we have opening

for this next year. But I've taken young men through this for years and years and years

and it's still a lot of fun. One of the things that I address is passion. I talk about leadership

principles from a biblical perspective and I talk about passion every single year. It's

one of our 21 lessons. And as we talk about passion, I say, I always say the same thing.

It's what I'm going to end with in my sermon today. I say, what is it that you want more

than anything else in life? Don't answer. Think. What is it that you want? What are you passionate

about? What is it that you want more than anything else in life? What is it that you

want that you're passionate about? And then I say, I want everybody in the room to answer

and so they start. Now, because it's a religious group and I'm a pastor, most often some dudes

are going to be like, I want God and the answer is, okay, good, good, me too. All right. What

else? What do you want more than anything else in the world? If you could stand before

God and say, this is what I want, passion. So oftentimes I'll hear men say, I want to

succeed, especially at that age, a lot of ambition. Man, I want my life to count pastor

like I want to do something big. I don't want to waste my life like I want to, I want to

be something, I want to do something. Fantastic. Awesome. Next, somebody else will say, to

be honest, I want a family. I didn't come from a good family. I want to be a good dad. I want

kids who like me and love me. I want a wife who cares about me. I know it's not going

to be perfect, but that's what I want more than anything else. Awesome. Fantastic. That's

great. Some people get really vulnerable and they'll be like, I think I want to lead, like

I want to be a leader politically or in the business realm or something like, and they'll

share all the things they want more than anything else in life. And then I always stop and I

say the exact same thing. I say, listen, I'm not a prophet and I can't predict the future,

but I'm going to do that right now. Right now. I'm going to predict and it's what's true

in that little room. It's true in this room too. Whatever you're thinking of, what do

you want most? Here's what, I promise you by the end of your life, whatever you want

most, you'll get it. You'll get it. Whatever you want most in life, you'll get it. Why?

Because you'll spend your entire life and all of your energy and all of your money and

all of your talents pursuing the thing that you want most. You will. You'll end up where

you're directing yourself. Never do I have a man in the room say this. Never. Because

it's a very serious conversation. I never have a young man say, what I want more than

anything else is to be the high scorer on this particular video game. That's what I

want. Never once have they said that. But you know what's funny? There are men in that

room who will be the high scorer of some video game. And that'll be the greatest accomplishment

of their life. Why? Because they said they wanted a family, but what they really wanted

was to spend more time playing video games. And they got what they were shooting for.

They just didn't say out loud what they really wanted. Never do I have a man say, my goal

is to be with more women than anybody can count. They won't say that out loud. They won't

say that to me. They don't want to say that in front of God. But some of them will be

with more women than anybody can count because that's what they're shooting for. And at

the end of their life, that's what they'll get. That's it. Granted, their kids won't

like them. They won't even know most of their kids. But they got what they wanted. You

understand? They got what they wanted. I promise you this as you leave today, whatever you

want most in life, you are going to end up with. You are the summation of your passions.

That's what you will be. What I love about this blind man is he wanted to see. I want

to see. If you want to see truth, you will pursue truth. If your passion is to see Christ

and know Him, you will see Him and you will know Him. And you will be fulfilled in not

only your destiny, but what you were created to be. Oh, my friend, my prayer for you is

that you would be the sighted beggar, not the blind disciple. Let's pray, Father. I pray

that my friends in this room would open their eyes before it's too late. For some, they

need to be saved. For some, they need to be baptized. For some, they need a small group.

For some, they just need to pursue you and spend time in the Scripture. For some, they

need to serve. For some, they need to spend their next lives asking what they need most

and want in life and, oh God, whatever it is, I pray they would seek it at your hand,

your hand, the Son of David, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the one who sits as King of

Kings and Lord of Lords at the right hand of the Father. Even today, bless us now as

we leave. In Jesus' holy name, we pray.

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to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Have a great week. Bye.