OPEN OUR EYES
Mark 10:46-52
INTRODUCTION:
ILL> Hymns & Haws
Dentists Hymn - Crown Him with Many Crowns
Contractors Hymn - The Church is One Foundation
Weather Forecasters Hymn - There Shall be Showers of Blessing
Optometrist - Open My Eyes
Tailors - Holy, Holy, Holy
Bakers - I Need Thee Every Hour
IRS - All to Thee I Owe
A. The Sinner’s Hymn - Amazing Grace
ILL> John Newton - Amazing Grace
John Newton became a seaman on his father’s ship at the age of eleven. Needless to say, he lived a sailor’s life and became quite a rabble-rouser. After serving on several ships, and working on the West African coast collecting slaves for sale, he began the captain of his own slave ship. Selling and transporting slaves from Africa to America was a cruel and vicious way of life.
On March 10, 1748 while returning to England from Africa during a particularly stormy voyage when it appeared that all would be lost, Newton began reading Thomas a Kempis’s book, Imitation of Christ. It was there that he realized that these slaves were not the wretched ones, but rather it was he that was wretched. This eventually led to the writing of one of the Church’s most beloved hymns.
I> THE CONDITION OF THE MAN
A. Physically blind
1. Most blindness is caused by
a. Disease
b. Disorders
c. Degeneration
B. Spiritually we can be blind
1. 2CO 4:3-4
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. [4] The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2. EPH 4:17-18
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. [18] They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
ILL> Walking into a dark restaurant. May be hard to see the tables or to see the menus. My oldest brother, Jim, was in a restaurant one time and asked for a flashlight it was so dark.
After awhile you get used to being in the dark.
ILL> Spelunking - After awhile you get used to being in the dark.
ILL> Little girl was staying at Grandma’s house. Grandma had put the toddler to bed, but it wasn’t long before she was calling for her grandma again. "I’m afraid of the dark," said the little girl.
"You don’t sleep with the light on at your house."
"But that’s my darkness."
C. The man was a beggar
ILL> My brother Dave and his wife just returned from West Palm Beach in Florida. It was nice, but there was a beggar at nearly every intersection.
1. Spiritual beggar - Have you ever begged God for help
2. LUK 16:19-31
a. Man was rich in worldly things, but spiritually he was simply a beggar
b. He had everything here, but nothing hereafter.
II> THE CRY OF THE MAN
A. Insistent cry - VS 47
B. Persistent cry - VS 48
1. Crowd rebuked him
a. World may rebuke you as well
b. May come from your friends
c. Those with whom you work
d. Even your own family
III> THE COMMAND OF THE MASTER
A. "Call Him
1. The man was a priority - Jesus stopped
2. It was personal - Call HIM
B. Throwing off his cloak he ran to Jesus
1. He responded to Jesus
a. He did what was right and he did the right thing.
IV> THE CARE OF THE MASTER
A. The Combination
1. God’s power combined with faith in Him
a. Albert Barnes reminds us that it was not his faith that opened his eyes, but his faith caused him to seek the help of the one who could
b. "So faith has no power to save from sin, but it leads the poor, lost, blind sinner to him who has power"
B. The Change
1. VS 52 - Immediately hislife was changed
ILL> Fanny J. Crosby was just sixth months old when she lost her sight. She had undergone surgery which resulted in her blindness. On one occasion she said that if she could meet the doctor that caused her to be blind that she would thank him because it was her blindness that led to her spiritual insight.
ILL> Helen Keller - Don’t feel sorry for those who are blind, but for those who have their eyesight and still cannot see.
C. The Confession
1. Bartimaeus - "I am blind"
ILL> On an occasion before his death, John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, is quoted as proclaiming with a loud voice during a message, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: ‘That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!’"
V> CONCLUSION:
ILL> A 90-year-old man approached his pastor after a meaningful time of worship. The man had been blind from birth and told the pastor he wanted to "see" him. He ran his fingers over the minister’s face then began to cry. He asked, "When I open my eyes for the first time, you kow who I will be looking at, don’t you?" The pastor said, "Yes, you will be looking at Jesus." The man then cried out with joy, "Pastor, it is worth being blind for 90 years to know that the first time I open my eyes, I will be looking at Jesus!"
A. ILL> Thursday on "Today"
A doctor was being interviewed who was describing the intricacies of the human body. On the DNA level, if a piece of DNA is wrong then there is a mechanism in the body that sends proteins to that place in order to restore it and make it right.
Actually, it is very difficult for the body to become ill. If there is a bad cell, the body destroys it. It is only the most extreme diseases that we catch: cancer, AIDS, etc. unless the body mechanisms are depleted by poor nutrition, age, etc.
"So, are we as humans continually progressing?"
"I would like to think so."
"So, we are ethically getting better, then."
"Accept for a few major instances in this century, yes."
B. Beggar - Evangelism is one hungry beggar telling another hungry beggar where to find food
1. JOH 6:27
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
C. He went to the one that could do something about his condition
1. We have a specialists for everything these days
a. Cardiac, hematologist, pediatry, podiatry, obstetrician
2. Jesus is a specialist to fix problems of the heart
D. Jesus calls us
1. Our response–up on our feet and run with joy
E. The blind man’s desire - I want to see
