Pastor Jeff emphasizes the transformative ministry of Jesus as depicted in Luke 18, highlighting that He came to challenge the prideful, teach the misunderstanding, and rescue the desperate. Through the stories of the rich young ruler and the blind man, Pastor Jeff illustrates how pride can lead to rejection of Jesus, while desperation leads to faith and worship. He emphasizes that Jesus seeks the lost, welcoming even the most unlikely individuals, like Zacchaeus, who responds with repentance and generosity. Ultimately, Pastor Jeff affirms that true forgiveness and salvation are available for all who recognize their need for Christ, emphasizing that our faith should rest not in our goodness but in Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross.
Sermon Transcript
Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome our Colorado Springs, Westminster and online campus who are all worshiping with us today. So great to worship with all of you. And as we continue our worship, let's go before the Lord and prepare our hearts to hear his living and active word among us. Would you pray with me?
Our Father in Heaven, we give you all the glory, all the honor, all the praise, all the thanks. Our hearts posture ourselves in front of you because you and you alone hold life. And Lord, we ask today that as we get ready to hear your living and active word, that you would have your way with us. Because, Lord, we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear what you have to say.
And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith, put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen? Amen. Today we're going to talk about the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we've been in this series, the Only God, we've been starting with Christology, we've been talking about how Jesus Christ is fully God, how he's eternal, how he's always existed. And last week we took a look at the Incarnation and how God became a man, how God became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
And nothing is more powerful than that, that the God of the universe became one of us, and how he was born of a virgin so he could be sinless and how he lived his life and all of that. So what did Jesus do when he was here and what was the purpose of his coming and why did he only stay for 33 years? And there's a lot that we could do to go over this. As a matter of fact, in order to have a full understanding, we would need to read through our entire Bible, specifically through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And in one morning, it's going to be difficult to all of that.
And so I really prayed hard about where can we go today just to get an overarching picture of the ministry of Jesus Christ? And there were several contenders. Mark 5 was a contender. And I was going to talk about how he had authority and power over demons, over disease, and over death, and several other different spots. But I landed in Luke chapter 18.
And in Luke chapter 18, there's really four different pictures that give you an idea of what Jesus was doing, what his ministry looked like, and how different people based upon what he was sharing responded to him. And these are very similar to the ways that people respond to Jesus today, because everybody seems to have their own ideas about Jesus, and most of the time they're not biblical ideas. So today we wanted to find ourselves in Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. We're going to start in verse 18, and we're going to go through the first 10 chapters of Luke chapter 19.
We're going to cover a lot of ground, take a look at some different vignettes, and we're going to talk about five truths about the ministry of Christ, who he was, and what he was doing. So as you turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 18, let's take a look at this first story. Now, you'll need to understand as we're getting here into the ministry of Jesus. Jesus Christ ministry lasted about three years. Here we're pushing towards the last days of Jesus Christ's ministry on the earth.
After the stories that you read here, he goes into Jerusalem and is crucified within a week of these stories here in Luke's gospel taking place. Some of these may be very familiar to you. Some of them may be new if you're new to church. But I believe that they'll give us a picture of how Jesus Christ responds to hearts that posture themselves before him. And the first story tells us about the ministry of Christ this way that he challenged the prideful.
Jesus Christ challenged the prideful. And when they experienced his ministry, they rejected him. When Jesus Christ challenged the prideful, they rejected him. Hear this first story. It says a ruler questioned him, saying, good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
So this ruler comes to Jesus and ask a very legitimate question. What must I do to inherit eternal life? I want to know what happens when I die. I want to know that the future is taken care of. It's a question all of us ask.
Whether you're religious or irreligious, you recognize the fact that you're terminal. You recognize the fact that there's something after, or you've convinced yourself that there's nothing after. But deep down in our hearts, we want to know what happens when we die. He's asking Jesus, good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? So Jesus is going to begin to answer his questions.
And Jesus said to him this. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. He says, good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus does not say, here's what you must do.
What does he say? Why do you call me good? There is no one good except God alone. Let me say it again. This is a great place for an amen.
There is no one good except God alone. Most people don't believe that. This rich young ruler is not going to believe that. Jesus is getting him to see that he's God. We know he's God in flesh.
You've been studying it for the last couple of weeks. And he comes to Jesus, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Hey, why are you calling me good? There's no one good except God alone. In other words, are you recognizing that I'm God and you're not?
And that's not where he's at because notice what he says next. No one is good except God alone. He said, you know the commandments, do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal.
Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. These are commandments 7, 6, 8, 9, and 5. If you're keeping track now, think about these commandments. How well are you doing it?
Do not commit adultery. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you committed lust in your heart. If you've lusted after someone that's not your spouse, you've already committed adultery in your heart. Means if you've hit puberty, you broke it.
Do not murder. Jesus said. You've heard it said, do not murder. But I tell you, he who thinks calls his brother an idiot is a murderer. If you have siblings, you're guilty, right?
If you've driven on i25. Guilty. You've been to the DMV. Guilty. I mean, you understand what I'm saying?
Do not steal. That means there's no time in your life you've ever taken something that doesn't belong to you. Whether it's something somebody else's homework, somebody else's ideas, somebody else's stick of gum. I mean, there's never been a time you've taken something that doesn't belong to you. All of us are guilty.
Do not bear false witness. There's never been a time you've ever said something ill of somebody else. There's never been a time that you've ever listened to somebody else say something ill about someone else where you haven't told them that was wrong. There's never been a time you've slandered or beared false witness. Honor your father and mother.
Never been a time from birth that you've dishonored them in thought, word, or deed. All of us have fallen short of all these. So Jesus says, you know, why do you call me good? There's no one good except God alone. And by the way, you know the Commandments.
And he gives them five of the commandments. And here's how the man responds. And he said, all these things I've kept from my youth. You set the standard, Jesus. I've met your standard.
I'm good enough to get to heaven on my own. That's what he's saying. Now, that may be laughable to those of us in church, but that's exactly how most of us think when we come out of the womb. I'm good enough for God. I'm good enough for where I am.
And if God doesn't accept me for where I am, that's not the God I would want to serve. Because I'm a pretty good guy, or I'm a pretty good gal. And I'm somewhat religious and I've somewhat kept the commandments and I'm somewhat moral, and I've done them. I'm pretty good. As a matter of fact, when I compare myself to the people I associate with, I'm really good.
That's what he's saying now. Jesus just got done saying, there's no one good except God. And this guy is saying, I'm really good, too, like Jesus. You're good and I'm good. We're both the same.
We're very, very similar, is what he's saying.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, jesus doesn't go through the law and say, you're an idiot. He doesn't say, you don't get it. He says to him this. He says, one thing you lack in the different gospel texts, and I believe it's in Mark's gospel. He looked at him and he loved him.
It's very loving to give people the law. It's very loving to tell people the truth. Did you know that? He's very loving to this guy. He says, one thing you still lack.
And really what he's going to highlight here is Commandment Number 10, do not covet. Do not wish you had things that other people had. Do not hold on to those things. It's like, one thing you still lack. Sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
Jesus, being God in the flesh, can see into his heart and recognize this guy doesn't realize he's breaking all the commandments. Let me lay one out for him that I Know he's going to understand because this guy is wealthy. And when the Bible goes to great lengths to tell you somebody's wealthy, the rich young ruler, it means he's got opulence. It means he's got wealth. It means he's depending upon that.
And he says, here's what you lack. Go sell all that you have, like, give it all away. Then come and follow me, and you'll have great treasure in heaven. Now, how's the man going to respond? He was asking about how to have eternal life.
And if life here's a blank and eternity is forever, you would think he'd be like, if that's all it takes, give it away. That's not what he does. But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. He was extremely rich. In some of the other accounts, it says at that point in time, he started to walk away.
Now, notice how Jesus responds to this. And Jesus looked at him and he said, let me tell you what he didn't say. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings.
Let me tell you what he didn't say. Come back. We could really use your money for our ministry. Here's what he said. How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.
And while you're sitting there saying, yeah, that's true of all those rich people, you're one of the rich people he's talking about. I don't care if you're listening online or you're here in Inglewood or wherever you're at. You're some of the richest people in the entire world. When two thirds of the world's population live off of less than $100 a month, you're rich. How hard it is for people like us to enter the kingdom of heaven, he says, for it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
Now, some people say, well, the needle's eye was a place in the city wall where you had to get low to come down. And so it was really, really hard. So a camel would have had to take off his backpack and get in. That's not what he's saying. He's talking about the eye of a needle, like a sewing needle.
He's saying it'd be easier for a camel to fit through a sewing needle than it would be for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And then those who heard it said, then who can be saved? You know what the disciples are Saying if a wealthy, religious, moral man that's doing his best to keep the law can't be saved, who can be saved? If good people can't be saved, who can be saved? If churchgoers can't be saved, who can be saved?
If people who are earning a living, independent, depending upon their wealth, can't be saved, then who can be saved? Because for the disciples, in the first century, Jews who had wealth were considered blessed of God. Many of us look at people that have wealth and say they're blessed of God. You may have wealth and say, I have wealth because I'm blessed of God. The disciples are saying, if someone like this that's religious and moral and sees themselves as good, who's trying to do the right things can't get saved, who can get saved then?
And notice what Jesus answer is. He says this, the things that are impossible with people are possible with who? God? It's impossible for man to save himself. That's what he's saying.
You can't save yourself. I can't save myself. The rich young ruler couldn't save himself. There's nothing that you can do on your own to get to heaven. That's why his question's flawed.
All of our questions are flawed. When we ask, what must I do to get to heaven? Here's the answer. You can't do anything to get there. If there was something you could do to get there, God the Father would not have needed to send his son, Jesus.
Here's the point of the story. You can't get to heaven. Apart from God, there's nothing you offer him. There's nothing good you've ever done. There's only one who's good.
It's Jesus. Here's his story. You're not good. But I kind of think I'm good. No, you're not.
You may be good in comparison to other human beings, you may be good based upon your own moral stance, but compared to the glorious excellencies of God, you are not good. And God only takes that which is perfect. That's the point of the story. Rich young ruler is like, hey, what do I gotta do? I think I got most of it sewn up, but if there's a couple things I'm missing, let me get those things right before I die.
And Jesus says to him, you get everything wrong. You're not good. You've broken all the commandments. Let me just highlight one for you. Because you depend upon your wealth, your wealth is keeping you out of the kingdom.
So why don't you trust me more than your wealth. And this man gets sad. He doesn't get excited about Jesus. He's saddened because here's what he's looking for. He's looking for this.
How can I continue to enjoy my life here? How can I live my life best here? What's the minimum requirement for me here so that I get to live my life here any way I want, and then be assured that when I die, I step over the line and I'm loved in heaven. And here's what Jesus tells him. There is no such thing.
If you don't give up your rights to your life here, you will never experience life with me eternally. And what did he do? He's like, well, that's the burden. He's saddened. He's like, I don't.
I don't want that because I'm. I'm. I'm. I was just asking you. Here's my question.
I was just asking you how I could continue to do what I'm doing and just get into heaven. You're telling me I got to change everything? You're telling me there's a standard I can't keep. You're making me feel bad. And Jesus is like, yeah, I'm telling you it's impossible for you to get to heaven.
You can't do it. The disciples are shocked. And every time that prideful people get challenged, they reject Jesus. Here's what prideful means. You might not see yourself as prideful.
Prideful is this. I'll pick my own way to heaven. I'll decide what heaven should look like. I'll decide what my God would accept. I'll decide what I can do.
There are things that I'm doing that are pretty good things. And God needs to recognize that I'm a pretty good person. Friends, I lived that way my whole childhood Till I was 18, at a young life camp being taught about sin. And when I was being taught about sin, I was saying, that's why Jesus died. And I don't remember exactly what my young life leader said to me, but it hit home because I was ticked because I told him.
And I made a great argument. I said, if what you're saying to me is true, that would mean that God loves, like, ax murderers and prostitutes and everything the same way that he loves me. And he was like, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. I'm like, if that's true, I would never want to serve a God like that. I've worked really, really hard.
I'm A pretty good person. I got confirmed both Lutheran and Methodist. I was, like, doubly confirmed.
And you're telling me none of that counts? Like, what have I been trying for? But he was telling me the same thing. And I had to come to a place of my own poverty where I realized I was bringing nothing to Jesus. Because here's the reality of all of those who experience eternal life with Christ.
Nobody brings anything to them except their sin. That's all you can bring. That's all you have to offer. And that's what he was trying to get him to see. And he laid out five of the commandments.
And he's like, no, I don't see any sin in me that way, because I've been keeping all those. Let me give you the 10th, because you're breaking that. And that's when he goes away sad, like, well, maybe I'm not perfect. And he's disappointed. Friends, the prideful are challenged.
They always reject Jesus. Let me tell you a second part of Christ's life. I feel like we're kind of looking at a diamond here. Looking at from different perspectives all the same. Ministry says this, that when he taught the disciples and they experienced his ministry, they misunderstood him, as Jesus taught his disciples.
They completely misunderstood him. Should give you great confidence, because here's a group of people that spent three entire years with Jesus and they still didn't get what he was telling them. Notice what it says. Peter said, behold, we've left our homes, our own homes, and followed you. So Peter's watching all this.
And the disciples are saying, then who can get saved? And Jesus said, well, what's impossible with people is possible with God. Only God can save. And then Peter's like, well, what about us as authentic? Peter likes it.
We left it all like we're following you. Like, what are we gonna get out of this deal? Now isn't that interesting? Peter is talking to the God man of the universe, asking him, what do we get? I mean, how selfish do you have to be?
You've been invited by God into his inner circle. And you're like, yeah, what are we gonna get out of this? Isn't that how we respond sometimes? He's spending time with a God man in flesh. And he's asking, what are we gonna get?
Like, there's more to this. And Jesus responds. And he says, truly, I say to you, there's no one who's left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as Much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life. Here's what he was telling them. He's like, if you're living for the kingdom and there's at times you've had to leave your wife to go do ministry, there's times you had to leave your kids to go do ministry, there's times that you've preference the kingdom.
I'm telling you, you won't fail to receive much in this life. Meaning that you're going to meet other believers in other homes and other families and that the family of God is going to fulfill what is lacking. You're going to experience great things here and in the life to come, you're going to experience my eternal life. That's what he was saying. He's not saying if you leave your wife today, God's going to bless you.
Don't hear that right. He's not saying if you go all in in the kingdom, you're going to be rich and have lots of houses. That's not what he's saying. He was telling them, if you preference my kingdom, if you put me first and my kingdom first, I promise you in this life you're going to have a full life because the family of God is going to be so strong for you. You will have everything you need at all times.
And in the life to come, you'll experience all my eternal life. That's what he was saying. Did they get it? No, they don't get it. They never got it.
It's interesting for me that when I study the life of the disciples prior to the dispensing of the Holy Spirit that came in their life, here's how much they understood zip. I mean, like, well, I wish I was Peter. I wouldn't know. They didn't know anything. I mean, they saw Jesus do miracles and they didn't get it.
They saw Jesus call them the sea. They didn't get it. They never got it. You know what? That should give you great comfort.
Because as believers, sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. I should have known that. I should get that. I should understand that it takes a lifetime and a pursuit of Jesus to grow with him. And on this side of heaven, you won't know everything.
Remember, we're talking about the eternal God, man. If there were a way that you could know all the things about Jesus and how he operated in your finite life, then he's not as grand as what the Bible makes him out to be. He's phenomenal. He's beyond excellency. He's beyond words.
And notice this. The whole reason of Jesus coming was his crucifixion. So then he took the 12 aside and he said this in verse 31. He couldn't be more clear. Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of man will be accomplished.
4. He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, they will kill him. And on the third day, he will rise again. Here's what he says.
Everything that's written about in the Old Testament, about me is going to come to take place. Everything that God said was going to happen is going to happen through me. Because I'm the Messiah. You know that I'm God. So here's what's going to happen.
We're nearing Jericho. We're going to go up to Jerusalem. And next week, when we get there, here's what's gonna happen. They're gonna mock me, they're gonna beat me, they're gonna spit upon me, they're gonna scourge me. And after all that, they're gonna kill me.
How much more clear could Jesus Christ be about what's going to happen? I mean, do you understand what I'm saying today? I understand it. It's crystal clear. And notice what the disciples understood.
But the disciples understood none of these things. That's how much they got. I mean, Jesus told them exactly what was going to happen and they understood zilch. And the meaning of this statement was hidden from them. And they did not comprehend the things that were said, meaning this.
Apart from the Holy Spirit, in your life as a believer, you can't understand the things of God. You can't. They're spiritually discerned. You can read the Bible, but if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can read the Bible and not understand what you just read. I remember after I got saved, I remember the first book of the Bible I ever read.
I came home and read the Book of James. Now, understand, I went to a Lutheran grade school and I went to a Methodist church and I'd read the Bible and I memorized Scripture. And I remember when I got home after getting saved and I read through the Book of James. And for the very first time in my life, as I was reading the Word, I was thinking, this. I understand this.
This makes perfect sense. Like, this is so clear. How could you miss. I'd read all those scriptures many times, never understood a Thing Understood some principles, understood some. I was reading the Bible as if God was speaking right to my heart while I was reading it.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit was in my life. And apart from the Holy Spirit being resident in a believer's life, you understand nothing. And at this point, the Holy Spirit had not been dispensed into the disciples lives. So they didn't understand.
Even when Jesus told them, this is exactly what I'm going to do. They're like, I don't understand crucifixion, what, kill, that's not going to happen to you. Peter promised him. He never let it happen. I mean, they didn't get it.
He taught the disciples and they misunderstood. Now when you think about this for a minute, think about if you're the Lord Jesus Christ, you're the eternal Son of God, you're a full deity, you're fully man. You come to this world, you have a purpose, to die on the cross and rise from the dead. You spend three years with a group of people that your father taught. These are the people I want you to pour into because they're going to carry your enterprise around for the rest of time.
And you tell them a week before you're ready to die, why you come and what's going on. And they're looking at you like, yeah, we don't get it. We don't understand anything. And that's who you're entrusting the world to, right? That's what we see here.
He taught his disciples, they misunderstood everything. They didn't know until the Holy Spirit came into their life in Acts chapter two. And then all of a sudden, they begin to remember everything that Jesus began to do and to teach. So he challenged the prideful and they rejected him. He taught the disciples and they misunderstood them.
But look at this. He rescued the desperate and they worshiped him. He rescued the desperate and they worshiped him. Notice this. It says that Jesus was approaching Jericho.
So here he's getting ready to come into Jericho. And a blind man was sitting by the road begging. Nothing really new. There were beggars in the first century. There's beggars still today.
This was a blind beggar. He couldn't do anything if Jesus Christ or somebody else didn't show up and help him. If he wasn't around people who could give him money, he wasn't going to get any money. He was just begging. He was dependent upon others to come to him.
Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. So he hears all this noise. He's blind, but he can hear. And he begins to hear this huge cr.
And he starts asking, well, what's this crowd about? What's going on? And they tell him Jesus of Nazareth is coming by. That's all he hears. Blind, begging, dependent.
Here's the word you need to hear. Desperate. How do you know he's desperate? Because of how he's going to respond. Notice what he begins to do.
And he called out, saying, jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. What's he saying? Jesus, I know who you are. I know how the Scriptures reveal you. I know you're the Son of David.
I know you're the Messiah. And here's what I'm begging of you. I'm not begging for money. I'm begging for your mercy. On my life, Lord, give me mercy.
And he yells at once. And guess what happens? Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet. So as this crowd is coming, here's this blind beggar saying, jesus. I mean, he can't see.
He doesn't know where he's looking. He's just screaming towards the direction of the crowd. But as the crowd gets close, the ones who are up front are like, shut up. Shut up. Jesus has more important things than to deal with you.
Sh. Stop it. You're being annoying. Nobody wants to see you or hear you. So what does he do?
Does he stop calling? He doesn't. But he kept crying out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. Now why would he do that? Because he's desperate.
Because he recognizes this Jesus Christ is passing by. If he doesn't get Jesus Christ's attention now, he will never, ever get Jesus Christ's attention, ever. It's now or never. You know what that's called? Desperation.
You know how most of us approach Jesus? Well, maybe I'll go to church someday. Well, maybe I'll consider the claims of Jesus someday. Well, that's not desperation. Desperation is when you hear his voice, you do not harden your heart.
You recognize today is the day of salvation. Because there's something that's different about being curious than being desperate. Right? Curious is I'd like to learn how to swim. Desperate is I'm drowning.
When I'm drowning, I'm not curious about a swim lesson. I'm wanting to be saved. You see the difference? Curious is when I'm just on the land, I'm curious what it'd be like to swim. Most of us approach Jesus as Inquiries.
We're curious. Tell me, you know, I'm living my good life, but have you got something better for me? Desperate is. I know if Jesus passes me by, I stay in this condition for the rest of my life. And I'm discontented and I'm desperate.
And you can tell me to shut up and you can tell me not to pursue. I don't care what any of you say. I need a touch from Jesus. And he kept crying out. Now notice this.
Jesus notices the desperate. He always recognizes the desperate. Prideful people will never act desperate. The rich young ruler wasn't. He was just as desperate as the blind man.
But he couldn't recognize his desperation because he didn't want to look needy. And how many times have you heard people in the world, Yeah, I don't. I. Christianity is just a crutch for weak people. I'm not that, bro, you're dead.
You need a lot more than a crutch. You need to be made alive. You understand? This guy understood his condition. Most people don't understand their condition.
And he's calling out and he's calling out, and he is not going to shut up until he knows there's no way that Jesus is within earshot. And he's calling and he's calling. And Jesus then stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. And when he came near, he questioned him. Now, isn't this interesting?
The people in the front were like, that's not the way you do it. It's not the way we do it in church. Shh, be quiet. Don't be so. Don't be so boisterous.
Just kind of be calm like the rest. If I don't get a touch from Jesus right now, I'm dying. I need him. And what does Jesus see? Jesus sees the desperate, like, stops the whole crowd.
All the things that are going on, all of his ministry going forward said, bring the guy here. I want to talk to him. Out of the whole crowd, who does Jesus notice? The one who's desperate. Out of a whole church, who's the one that Jesus notices?
The one who's desperate. Not the one who's hurting because many people hurt. Not the one who's challenged because many people are challenged. But there's some who are here that are like, I'm desperate. I mean, if there's something Jesus can do, anything he wants.
I just want him. He sees that and he responds to that. And he brings him forward and he questions him. Now, what's he going to question him now? Here's what we know he's a blind beggar.
You and I, without being the eternal Son of God, would have known he's a blind beggar. It wouldn't take rocket science to realize the guy can't see and the guy's totally needy because he's sitting on the side of the road where he sat every single day asking for help. So what's Jesus question going to be?
What do you want me to do for you? Now, what in the world would Jesus ask that question for? What do you want me to do for him? I mean, Jesus, I could tell you what he wants. He's blind and he's begging.
He needs help. He wants to see. He wants to be able to regain his life. Why does Jesus ask him? Because Jesus wants him to be humble enough to tell him what his need is.
See, it's one thing to see people hurting. It's one people to. It's one thing to be aware that you're hurting. It's another when people say, what do you need? And you're like, this is what I need because I can't fix this.
How many times do we, in our culture, like even our marriage could be breaking up, relationships could be challenged, money could be short, whatever. And people, what can I do for you? Oh, we'll be fine. We're working on it. Jesus, like, okay, keep working.
But when you get to a place like, I don't care who knows and I don't care who sees. If our marriage doesn't get a touch from Jesus, this thing's over. If somebody doesn't come through with my finances, this thing's done. I don't care who knows. I don't care what people think of me.
I don't care what I need to change. I'm blind and I can't see. Lord, help me regain my sight. That's what I want. And that's what he does.
He says, lord, I want to regain my sight. And Jesus says to him this Receive your sight, your faith has made you well. Receive your sight, your faith has made you well. Now when we read that, a lot of people take that a lot of different ways. Some people read that and be like everybody that's blind.
If you trust, Jesus will be able to see again. Some people take that to mean that was a one time thing Jesus did and he doesn't do that anymore. That was just to show he was the son of God. I think neither is really true. I think when he was saying, I want to see, I want to regain my sight, Jesus said, Receive your sight.
Your faith has made you well, who? It's not what Jesus was placing or what the blind man was placing his faith in. It was who he was placing his faith in. And who was he placing his faith in. He was placing his faith in Jesus.
To tell him this, you do whatever you want, and I'm good with that. Jesus wasn't telling him your faith made you well, like you had this incredible faith because you had faith that I could heal your eyes. He was saying you had faith in me. It's not how strong your faith is, it's who you place your faith in. Using the drowning illustration, if you were drowning and you placed your faith in the life raft with a rescue team on it and you placed all your faith in that, you could have even stronger faith that you could hold an anchor.
It doesn't matter which faith was stronger. It's the content of what your faith was in. If you grab onto the life raft and the people that can pull you in the boat, you're going to have a lot better chance of survival than having I had really strong faith in the anchor that sank all the way to the bottom of the ocean. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's not the, it's not the quality of your faith.
Like I gotta faith more. I gotta be so faith. It's not about you, it's about where you place in your faith. Here's what the blind man was saying. I'm placing my faith in you, Jesus.
You do whatever you think is best. You asked me what I wanted. I'm authentically telling you what I want. But I'm trusting you to do whatever you think is best. And Jesus said, hey, that kind of faith will heal you.
It doesn't mean that Jesus always does everything you ask for. But I think that blind man would have trusted Jesus even if he hadn't seen. If he would have just known that the God man of the universe was spending time with him and saying, I'm with you always. It was his faith. Faith in who?
Faith in Jesus, not how strong his faith was and whatever. And notice what happens. He says, your faith has made you well. Immediately he regained his sight and began following him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.
When desperate people that have no chance call out to Jesus and Jesus changes a life, not only does that person worship, but several around begin to say there's something special going on here. Because if that individual can change, wow, it's possible for a lot of things to happen in this world. Do you understand what I'm saying? I mean, for those of you that have a testimony, you've been changed. Whether your testimony started at the age of three, when you trusted Christ, or whether your testimony started later in life, I'm not talking about what you left, and I'm talking about what you've become.
And when you become what the Lord wants you to become, it's worthy of worship. Because you're like, I'm worshiping the one that's made that happen. And that's what happens. And desperate people see the hand of God. You have to be desperate to see them.
Most people don't get to that place of desperation when the gospel is preached. You should feel an entire sense of desperation because you bring nothing to the table. Like, people that die that think I'm going to be okay are not okay. They're in hell 100% of the time. There's nobody that gets to God on their own.
You can't do it. That's why Jesus said, what? You must be born again. You can't. You don't have life.
You don't have anything good. You have nothing to offer. That's why I had to come. If you follow me in my kingdom, I'll take care of you. But you got to understand, I'm going to the cross and dying.
Yeah, we don't get that. But the blind beggar was saying, I know this may be my last chance. You know, there's some of you sitting here today, and there's some of you in Colorado Springs and Westminster Online. Today may be your last day to ever hear the gospel. And you're like, well, I'm only 18 or I'm only 40, or I'm only 50.
I got time to think about this. Maybe you do and maybe you don't. You have no idea. I have no idea. I may be aware of my birthdate because people tell me, but I don't know when my death date's going to be, but it's already been set.
So today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Don't walk out of this place and say, well, you know, I'll figure it out. See yourself as that desperate one. When he rescued, the desperate people worshiped. Let me give you a fourth one.
He confronted the curious. And when they experienced his ministry, they welcomed him. Notice where he goes now? Now he entered Jericho. He was on the way to Jericho when he saw the blind man.
Now he's entering Jericho, and he was passing through, and there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector. And guess what? He was rich. Now remember the rich young ruler? He was rich.
He was extremely rich. And Jesus said how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. It's easy for a camel to go through an eye of the needle for a rich man to be saved. Oh, no, here's another rich guy. No way he's going to get saved because he's rich.
And as a chief tax collector, you need to understand this. He extorted people for their money because the tax collectors not only had to collect the taxes, but they could collect however much they needed and pocket the additional for themselves. Tax collectors were hated in the culture. He was an extortioner. He was hated by the people.
His name was Zacchaeus. But notice this in verse 3, Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was and was unable because of the crowd, for he was so small in stature. For those of you that grew up in church, you probably know the song about Zacchaeus. The wee little man. And the wee little man was he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord.
He wanted to see. I can do the hand motions and everything all day, right? But here's this white collar criminal that's extorted everybody that's curious because now he sees Jesus and he can't see over the crowd. So he's running ahead, climbing a tree because he's got to get a view of this Jesus because he's been hearing about his ministry of mercy and grace. He's been hearing about his ministry of truth.
He wonders deep down inside the recesses of his heart, what would this man say to me? What would he say to me? So what's he do? So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him. For he was about to pass through that way.
And when he came to the place, this is Jesus, he looked up and said to him, zacchaeus, hurry and come down for today I must stay at your house. Now here's a couple things you need to know. They'd never met, yet. Jesus knows his name, you know, Jesus knows your name. I mean, he sees what's going on.
He's the God man. He's coming up, he sees the tree. He's talking to the most, potentially the most hated person in all of Jericho. The one that everybody in Jericho, all of us would have been like, if there's anybody we hate, it's him. He's Taken all of our money.
The reason he lives in the house he lives in, because I paid for it. The reason he has everything he has, I paid for it. We hate that guy. Totally dishonest guy. Should be in prison.
Jesus sees him and says this, Zacchaeus, I see you come down. I gotta go to your house today. I must stay with you. Now, in the first century, the greatest form of fellowship, the greatest form of intimacy was spending time in somebody's home. Here's what Jesus is saying, Zacchaeus, I know your name.
I want to spend time with you. And out of all the people in Jericho, you're the one I want to have fellowship with. What do you think that did to Zacchaeus heart? We know he wasn't just, you know, intrigued, he was curious. He really wanted to know.
And there's a difference between people who are intrigued and curious. Have you. I've shared the gospel enough with people that they want to get in debates about different things. And when I shared the gospel with somebody, they want to know about the flood, or they want to know about, you know, creation or all these different things. I ask this question, if, when we're done talking, you recognize that the Bible is true, will you place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ?
And if they say no, then there's really no reason to continue the conversation. They're just debating. But I've had those conversations before with curious people. And they're like, yeah, I mean, I want to know. And like, if that's true, like, of course I'll place my faith.
I just don't know. And I want to use my mind. And Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. You can be a thinking Christian. You should be a thinking Christian because your mind is important.
And there's a difference between those who are curious with their mind, who really want to know, and those who pretend they're really smart, that are intrigued, but are hard hearted, that are never going to give their attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that Zacchaeus was curious because notice what happens when Jesus said, I must stay at your house. Verse 6 says, and he hurried down and came and received him gladly. In other words, Jesus, yeah, let's go do this. I want this.
I want to know what you're like. Now notice the city. When they saw it, they all began grumbling, saying, he has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. Now isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting?
Who are the sinners in the Bible, everybody. We like to label people as sinners and forget that we're one of them. Jesus was dubbed a friend of sinners, like he eats with the sinners, the bad. Who else could he have eaten with? What other choice did he have?
I mean, that's the only choice he had. When people were mocking him, he, a friend of sinners. They were saying, I'm not. They are. That was the problem.
Look, he's going to the house of a sinner. Where else would he go? If he came to your house, he would be going to the house of a sinner too. They saw themselves as better than Zacchaeus. We see ourselves as better than others.
God sees us all as desperate and in need of him. And when he sees desperate, curious people say, what am I must do? And what's your requirements? Jesus meets people like that. He welcomed him.
He welcomed him. And notice what happens as Zacchaeus was recognizing the love that Jesus had for him. Because here's the beauty of the gospel. The beauty of the gospel is when you know that you know that you're a sinner and you know that God sees all your sin and you know that you're undeserving. And yet in that moment, you receive the love of God.
It transforms your heart. And Zacchaeus heart's being transformed. Because notice what happens. Zacchaeus stopped. He's hearing all the chatter.
And he said to the Lord, he's not looking at the people. He's like, behold, Lord, half my possessions I'll give to the poor. That's different than the rich young ruler. He went away sad. Jesus didn't even ask Zacchaeus to give half his possessions to the poor.
Zacchaeus is just recognizing I'm an extorter. I'm in the presence of the God man. I shouldn't have acted this way. Lord, I want you to know I'm giving half my possessions to the poor. And if I've defrauded anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.
If you study Old Testament law, that's a lot more than he was required to give back. He was basically saying, lord, I've been transformed by you, and I'm going to do anything so that I can keep this relationship with you. And what does Jesus say? Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham. His heart was transformed.
Like when you're desperate for God, when you're really curious, like, if someone can show me who he is, I'm going to welcome him. I'm so desperate. If I can know, I'll worship him. Jesus responds to that differently than the people who are prideful. Like, yeah, guy, I'm not going to listen to anybody's religion.
I'll get to heaven on my own. Because people like that reject him every single day. And if you die in that state, you will go to hell.
So notice this last point. I think this really sums up the whole ministry of Jesus. Notice what he says in verse 10. For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
What does Jesus have a heart for? He has a heart for the lost. Who's lost everybody. Who does he have a heart for? Everybody.
Let me give you this final point. He loved the world. And when they experienced his ministry, they crucified him. They crucified him. He said that they were going to crucify him.
He said that's exactly what was going to happen. And that's exactly why he came.
It's really interesting because he said that he came to seek and save the lost. And most of us say, well, it's not me. And Jesus said, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. He goes, I did not come to call the righteous, but the unrighteous to repentance. Who are the unrighteous.
Let me give you two of the most difficult theological doctrines of Christ that you'll ever have to own. I'll give you the first one for the non believer. This is the most rejected biblical doctrine of Christ for every non believer around the world. And it's the doctrine of total depravity. Total depravity.
There's nothing good in you. The book of Romans says, in Romans 2:10, there is no one good, not one that means you. You're not good. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.
The hardest thing to understand as a non believer is this. It's the most offensive doctrine, the most offensive teaching that Christ ever taught is this. You are thoroughly a mess and there's nothing you can do to fix yourself. And we reject that. And we're like, no, I'm going to work on things.
I'm going to do things. I'm going to join this cult. I'm going to get in this religion. I'm going to be in the religion of self. I'm going to work my way up.
I'm going to be a moral person. I think I'm Better than you. You can reject it all you want, but I'm telling you today, it's the most true doctrine. As a nonbeliever, you need to understand is that you are dead in your sins, you are spiritually stillborn, and there's nothing you can do about it. And if you die in that state, you will be dragged off to an eternal hell because the eternal God, man of the universe who's perfectly holy, says he can't be in your presence when you're in your state.
That's a very difficult doctrine to hear. That's where people that are non believers hear that and be like, he's preaching hate speech, not preaching hate speech. I'm preaching pure biblical doctrine to tell you there's nothing good in you. And if you die in that state thinking that you're going to be welcomed into heaven or that heaven's going to be a glorious thing, you're going to be in for a rude awakening because you're going to appear before the glorious Lord Jesus Christ who's going to look at you and say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, you worker of sin. I never knew you.
You didn't do anything good in your whole life. So I helped an old lady carry her groceries. I was good in school, I studied hard. Yeah, none of that compared to my glory means anything because you're dead and you have a whole history of breaking every one of my commandments. That's difficult.
But I got good news for you. The reason Jesus Christ came, and we're going to highlight this as we continue this series, was for one reason and one reason only, to go to the cross and to pay for the penalty of that sin. Jesus Christ is the only one who could pay for it because he was born of a virgin. He's the eternal Son of God. He fulfilled the law.
There's no one good except God. He is good. He fulfilled all the law. He never broke any of the law. He never sinned.
He was tempted in every way we are, yet was without sin, and yet went to the cross and took the full wrath of God on the cross for everything you deserve, stretched out his arms and died in your place, for all your sin, for all eternity, and then rose three days later to validate I told you so. I'm the only one that offers life. Come to me and if you'll get to a place as a non believer where you recognize there's nothing good that dwells in you and you'll give God all your sin and say, I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm wretched. I know I'm not good.
I know I bear your image, but I've blown it over and over again. Lord, here's all my sin. Take it and you take it to the cross. Jesus will give you all of his life and forgiveness in that moment. Amen.
It's worthy of praise.
So if the most difficult theological doctrine for an unbeliever is total depravity, let me tell you what the most difficult theological doctrine I believe is for a believer that I've watched and witnessed over 30 years. It's total forgiveness.
When you give Christ all your sin, he forgives everything. You are 100% clean in every way. Not if I keep doing. If I continue. Oh, I should have.
Oh, if I do this now, if. Okay, God, you saved me. Now we're going to work together and we do this thing we're going to get to. No. If you've given God all your sin and you've received all his forgiveness, you can't be forgiven any more than being completely forgiven.
And yet so many believers are like, yeah, that's not true. I still sin today. Yeah, you did, but you're forgiven. Well, when at the cross, Jesus died for all your sin. And how many believers live in guilt and doubt and fear and anxiety and worry and wonder?
I don't know if I'm doing it right. I don't know if I asked God in my heart the right way. I don't know if I. If you've given Jesus Christ all your sin, he's extended to you, all of his forgiveness, you are completely washed.
Do you believe that? Otherwise, what good is the gospel if all the gospel does is wash me the day I get saved? And now every single day for the rest of my life, I gotta keep doing it and keep doing it, keep doing it. That's what the old covenant was. Buckets and gallons upon gallons upon oceans of blood from myriads of animals to continue to wash me but once and for all, Jesus Christ came and shed his blood.
So that one washing with Jesus, I would be thoroughly cleansed forever from the inside out.
And as difficult as it is for the unbeliever to believe that there is nothing good in you, it is as difficult for the believer to believe that you are totally forgiven. Yeah, but I lost my temper this week. Totally forgiven. Jesus knew that you were going to lose your temper this week when he died on the cross and paid for it. How good is that?
The cross is not a temporary forgiveness. If I continue to behave. The cross is an eternal forgiveness for those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus. Is that good? I mean, if you only got that out of this message, it was worth your time today because you'll walk differently.
If every day I'm walking, wondering, did I do enough? Did I do enough? Am I forgiven enough? Did I do it right? Oh my goodness, what happens if I die?
But I didn't get to confess that last sin before the Lord. Am I really going, I'm forgiven. I'm sealed and I'm cleansed and I'm perfected by the blood of Jesus. And he will present me faultless before the Father, not because of anything I've ever done, but because of what he did on the cross. I'm not the rich young ruler asking Jesus what I must do.
I'm asking, I'm thanking Jesus for what he has done. He forgave all of our sin when he died on the cross. You give God all your sin today. He will give you all of his forgiveness today, and you are forgiven. Forgiveness isn't that good news.
And that's the ministry of Jesus. And so the question is, as you hear this, while this doesn't give you an exhaustive study of everything that Jesus began to do and teach, and even if we had that, I mean, there not enough libraries in the world, The Gospel of John says, here's what you can know. How's your heart respond to that truth? Are you the prideful person that says, this is the last time I'm coming? That pastor's really mean.
He made me feel bad because I'm a better person than everybody else in here. Do you respond in such a way like, I don't get it, what he's even talking about? Or do you respond in a way of, I'm desperate today and I need Jesus, I'm curious. I need his life. And if that's you today, do not walk out of here without experiencing the full grace, mercy and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why he came for you. He didn't ask you to become good. He doesn't ask dirty people to clean themselves. He asked dead people to come to him so that those dead people can experience his life. And if you're looking for life, look no further than the Lord Jesus Christ, because he's the way, the truth, and the life.
And he's the only one that can give it. Amen and amen. Would you stand with me? Father in heaven, we come before you. We thank you for these vignettes these stories, these truthful accounts of what you experienced when you were here on the earth.
Jesus. And we just pray that you would use them today as you send forth your word to draw people to yourself. Lord, for some of us today, we're reminded of when we were prideful and when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, when we got angry hearing this message. For some of us were reminded today of the forgiveness that we now needed and that we have in our hearts. But Lord, there are some here that are listening to my voice today who would say I've never placed my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's never been a time I've done that. All right? I don't think there's a time I've done that. And if that's you, would you place your faith and trust in Jesus today? You can do it by praying something to yourself like this.
Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner.
I know that compared to you, there is nothing good in me. But I believe that you're the God man who died on the cross. That you were willing to pay for all of my sins. I believe you rose from the dead. And right now, Lord, I want to repent of my sin.
That means I want to turn from my sin. I want to give you all my sin and I want you to give me all your life. Come into my life and be the Lord and Savior of my life and dwell with me. Father, we thank you for your work. We thank you for all you're doing here today.
We give you glory, honor and praise. And it's in Jesus name we pray. And all God's people agreed and said amen and amen. Let's give God praise for his word.