Have Mercy On Us. (Hix)

Matthew 9:27-31-When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!"

28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."

29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you."

30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it."

31 But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.

Crying Out-It means they weren’t whispering, they weren’t saying it under their breath, they were letting Him and everyone else know they had a need!

We do too, but the sad thing is many times we tell everybody about our need, our situation, without telling God, or we wait to till He is the last resort!

Son Of David

Isaiah 35:4-6 (NLT)

4 Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.”

5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.

6 The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.

They believe Jesus was the Messiah!

Side note….When John sent his disciples to Jesus, to see if Jesus was the Messiah, this how Jesus answered that question.

Luke 7:22 (NKJV)

22 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Have Mercy On Us-Recognizing that we don’t deserve what we are asking for, and knowing what we are asking for can be given to us by the one we asked it from!

That is one true characteristics of a Christian if they recognize and acknowledge they do not deserve anything from God.

Followed Him-I’m guessing by those words Jesus, that did not stop, that He continued on in the direction that He was going.

I don’t know about you but that speaks volumes to me, because there have been times when I have cried out to Him, I’ve pleaded with Him, I’ve made my request known to Him, and it seems as if He has ignored me, I didn’t feel His touch, I didn’t hear His voice, but I did the only thing I knew to do….I keep following Him!

That’s what these men did!

They couldn’t rely on their feelings….I’m sure they didn’t feel very confident when Jesus didn’t answer their cries!

They couldn’t rely on the crowd…There is no response from the people there, no 4 men to help them like the man in the story this morning.

They just to follow Him, He was their only hope!

That should be an encouragement to us, that even in those times when our prayers only seem to reach the ceiling, when we find ourselves not feeling God’s presences, when we don’t hear God’s voice, that we just keep following Jesus!!

"Do you believe that I am able to do this?"

Jesus is not just interested in us or anybody else that can say what we think, He wants to hear!

He wants our actions to back up what we say!

He knew by their actions (They continued to follow Him) that they believed He could do what they were asking!

It’s easy for us to say words, but it’s a lot harder to put those words, those beliefs into action!!

Our faith has to display itself in our actions!!

Joseph is a prime example of that…He continued to follow God, all the way from the pit, to the prison, to the palace!

See that no one knows it-He knew that because they believed He was the Messiah, that not only would they tell about their healing, but they would tell about their belief of Him being the Messiah, and since most people were looking for a military leader (this type of thing had happened before Luke 4:42-43) instead of spiritual leader, He knew people would try to push Him to defeat Rome and He knew His purpose was to defeat sin and death!!

Luke 4:42-43 (NKJV)

42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;

43 but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent."