Traveling Mercies: Seen by Christ on the Journey

And I'm gonna show you past fulfillment to give you confidence that that which you wait to have fulfilled can deeply impact you how you live. And if that's the concept, then certainly we're supposed to glean that from the final week of Christ's life. And today, you will see that there is an unnoticeable pointing towards not just the cross for Luke, but fulfillment. And what he sees in that journey is what he would like to, if you will, extrapolate out of that and lay it not only in the life of Theophilus, but in our lives. Okay? [00:36:29] (38 seconds)  #FulfillmentShapesLiving

And as we get to the final week, there's there's something that happens that's quite it's quite interesting the way I see it to be quite honest with you. Maybe I've lost my ever loving mind, but that wouldn't surprise you a single bit, I'm sure. But the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, and the leaders of Jerusalem and Jesus finally agree on something. There's been so much tension over the last four or five weeks that we have seen in the gospel of Luke as he covers the three year ministry time of Christ. There was never a moment in Luke's gospel where the Pharisees were like, hey, you know what? I like this guy. It's always been, you're a pain in the neck. [00:37:07] (40 seconds)  #UnexpectedAgreement

Okay? Long before it happened. So what's gonna happen in Jerusalem isn't a situation that gets out of control. It's not a situation that Christ didn't understand was coming. Alright? And this is to give us the same confidence about a second coming. Alright? If that which was prophetically declared about him was fulfilled in his execution, then we should be able to safely live with certainty that that which remains about a second coming will be fulfilled. And if we know with certainty he's coming again, that should affect the way you live now. And we're gonna see the first thing today that will affect you as you live now. Now, let's look and see what they could possibly agree on. [00:40:31] (41 seconds)  #CertaintyOfSecondComing

You must die. Jesus knew he had to die so that we could be forgiven. The Pharisees knew they had to kill him or they were never gonna be able to have what they once had amongst the people. They have finally come to an agreement about the death of Jesus Christ. That ultimately, they both agreed his death was going to be a significant thing to be accomplished. They finally have the agenda. The enemies have agreed that this is what must happen. And as he prepares, he's moving from this moment into Jerusalem, we're gonna see three scenes. Okay? And it's all about whether or not you want traveling mercies. [00:43:12] (38 seconds)  #DeathAsFulfillment

as Jesus approached Jericho, which is a very interesting thing, he he could have come down the way he almost always went, a pathway near the Sea Of Galilee, But he's entering Jerusalem the same way the Israelites did in the wilderness. Remember, this would be the first challenging city that they would face. In fact, the most fortified city of the world in the day that the Israelites came in was Jericho. And remember what they had to do, they had to go around it once a day for six days, seven times on the seventh day, and then blow a trumpet. And when they blew the trumpet, it was said that all the walls would fall down. It is still to this day considered the worst military strategy ever for defeating a fortified city. [00:43:59] (41 seconds)  #EnteringJericho

So when you start at the top and you walk down, man, it was a very sharp pathway to go and a lot of rocks and caves and places for people to hide. And this guy, he's sitting there begging. When he heard the crowd going by, why did he hear the crowd? Because he couldn't see it. But it doesn't mean he was senseless. Right? Just because I can't see, doesn't mean I can't feel. He felt something, and he could feel the the crowd going by and he asked what was happening and they told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Christ is on the road to Jericho. He's on his way up the road and he's going into Jerusalem. He called out Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. That's what he wants. [00:45:59] (55 seconds)  #BlindBeggarSenses

While Christ is on his way in on Palm Sunday, here's a blind beggar on the Jericho Road. He can't see anything, but he senses something. And the fact that he senses something causes him to cry must have heard something about Jesus, because if it was Greg on the Jericho Road, he probably would have asked for alms. Right? But now he's asking for something very different. He's asking for mercy. Okay? Interesting. We don't know what did he mean by that. Did he want mercy for forgiveness? Mercy for his sight? You'll see in a second. Okay? So those who led the way rebuked him and told him to shut up, be quiet, and then he shouted all the more. [00:46:54] (44 seconds)  #MercyNotAlms

So one of the things that Luke wants us to know is that if you really wanna experience God's mercy, you're going to have to get into a position where you insist on it. And remove the excuses. Okay? You'll see this in a second. You can easily sense even though you've never seen. We've never seen Jesus do anything. It doesn't mean you can't sense the presence. Man, there's thousand of you or so sitting in this room right now and, like, none of us seen him, but you can sense it. We can see nothing but the blood of Jesus and your hairs on your arm stands up. What is that? Well, you can sense his presence even though you never seen him. You can sense his presence even though you didn't see him. [00:47:38] (45 seconds)  #InsistOnMercy

And once you sense his presence, if you wanna experience his his mercy, then you got to insist on it. Because there might be some little voice within you that says, shut up. Stop. You gotta scream out and cry out even more. And he says, son of David, once again, you can't miss the context. Just so you know, I don't make these things up. The Bible usually gives me my sermon series titles, have mercy on me. Okay? Once again, this guy wants to experience what all of us need on the journey. Right? Mercy. Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. So what the the the 12 and the people who were leading on the way saw as an annoyance, Jesus saw as an opportunity. [00:48:24] (53 seconds)  #CryOutForMercy

And can we can we get his attention? I mean, is it possible? Well, it's up to you. That's up to you and me. See, he when he came near, Jesus asked him, so what do you want me to do for you? Lord, I wanna see. He replied, and Jesus said to him, receive your sight, your faith has healed you. And this whole thing happened pretty much for one reason, because if you wanna see, you will. If you don't wanna see, you won't. You never you just won't do it. If you don't wanna see and this isn't just the physical. This is about perception. It's in the eyesight. This is vision. [00:49:16] (40 seconds)  #FaithBringsSight

Are you do you wanna see truth? Do you wanna see the true realities of life? Do you do you wanna understand that there's multiple layers to reality? One that we that our six senses can take in, but the other layer, you don't have to be able to experience through the smell, taste, touch, and all of that to sense and to experience and to feel. You and I can actually see things at another layer. We can we're we're capable of potentially seeing a different layer to Russia and Ukraine because you you you don't need eyesight to see that, you need vision. [00:49:56] (42 seconds)  #VisionBeyondSenses

He doesn't know it, but what he wants is he wants to see he wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. Alright? Now let's talk about chief tax collector. A chief tax collector is a tax collector who has bought the rights to multiple tax booths. Okay? So as you would journey from one town to another, one city to another, there you would have to pay taxes to maintain supposedly, to maintain the road to if you were carrying goods, you know, as like if you came in from out of the country and you gotta pay a a tariff on that's a popular word. Pay a tariff on something. Okay? And that money would go to Rome. [00:52:31] (42 seconds)  #CantSeeShortness

Well, the Jews hated tax collectors because they were Jews who they thought were infidels supporting Roman taxation that wasn't benefiting the Jewish people. And the way Zacchaeus and the other guys would make money, if the toll was say $10, and when you got to it, it's now $12. 10 goes to Rome, two goes to me. And then the next toll booth, if it was $10, it would be $12. 10 would go to Rome and two would go to me. So you would make, who knows how you could double it, I guess, if you want. And you would think, listen, we little man, we little man is he? I'm gonna whoop your hind end. I ain't paying you nothing. But you see Rome would send soldiers to be Guido at the toll booth. [00:53:28] (49 seconds)  #TaxCollectorsHated

You're paying the toll or you're giving us your life. So we little man, we little man is he. He was a thug. It's basically what he was. Okay? And so when Luke tells you, he was short, but he could not see over the crowd, that shortness is more than just stature. He was also very disrespected. The shortness of his character. Because when you think about a crowd, I know most of you, if we're on a parade route and we're waiting for something to come by and a wee little dude comes by, we're like, okay, you can get in front of me because I can still see over you. But the crowd's like, you ain't seeing a squat here, boy. [00:54:18] (38 seconds)  #ShortOnCharacter

Right? Because he has very he's not only short stature, but he's short on character, he's short on integrity. And so this wee little man, wee little man as he is now being blocked. His vision of Christ is being blocked because of the choices that he's made in his life. He can't see over the crowd and the crowd ain't gonna let him in. So Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see him. So Zacchaeus runs down the parade route and he finds a tree, and he climbs up in the tree. Now don't miss this. The two things we know about Zacchaeus, well, all the tax collector, but he has something within him now that wants to see Jesus. [00:54:56] (44 seconds)  #ClimbToSee

Do you wanna be seen by God? Now that's a hard question, ain't it? Because if you're as wicked as Zacchaeus was at that moment, you might just wanna do what Adam and Eve did when they ate from the wrong tree. Hide. Cover yourself. Not look for God. Run from God. Right? Remember the tree? And here this guy has been living in the reality of the fruit of a spoiled tree. It's basically Zacchaeus. He is the fruit of a rotten tree. Okay? So Christ looks up at him and says this, it's great. Zacchaeus, come down immediately. Come down here. Come down here. Now, this is just me. You're never gonna read this in any other book. I promise you. You can email me and tell me I've lost my mind. [00:56:41] (51 seconds)  #DontHideFromGod

But you know how when Jesus dies, he takes our place? It's called the imputation of righteousness. He who knew no sin became sin that you and I might become something, the righteousness of God. I see in this moment Christ saying to all of us, the wrong person's in the tree. Because the bible says, cursed is anyone who's hung on a tree, which is used in the New Testament to describe the death of Jesus Christ. Zacchaeus, I'm the one who belongs in the tree. You gotta get out of that tree if I'm gonna climb up in it. I'm the one who's gonna die for what you did. I'm the one who's gonna die for what you became. And I want you to know I see you. I see you. And here's what I want you to do. Get down here. [00:57:32] (52 seconds)  #JesusTakesTheTree

So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. So if you wanna be seen, you will. You just gotta like, are you are you willing to take the next step? Now some of it is you don't wanna be seen because you're you're like Adam and Eve. You're like, I'll cover myself. I'm good. I don't okay. You're you're you're not good. Let me tell you that. You need mercy. And and other times, it's just that we're not so sure we wanna push through the obstacles. We're not so sure, like, just insist and you will be seen. And so the power of mercy is that if you wanna see, you will, and that will affect the journey from that moment forward. If you wanna be seen, you will. [00:58:25] (52 seconds)  #TakeNextStep

When the moment comes when we can declare the glories of who Christ is, declare them. Nobody's what's holding you back from praising Christ? What's holding you back from worshiping God? What's holding you back from joining in the great work of God? Because if you want to, you can. Can you see, I would say so much, I believe this. Now, two things. I believe that if you can't see the Messiah on the back of a donkey, you'll never recognize him on a cross. I believe that. Because on why on a donkey? That's pretty confusing when you think about the creator of heaven and earth. He could have come in on an elephant if he chose. They're all his or even a horse. But it was prophetically declared that he would. The king would enter Jerusalem on a donkey and there's some historical tradition that they would do that. And it's still you're like, but that's God on a donkey. [01:02:10] (58 seconds)  #PraiseAndRecognize

What's God doing on a donkey? Well, such a small donkey would have him down here, right at eye level, that he didn't come to lord anything over us, that he wants to be able to see eye to eye with the people who are interested in praising him and worshiping him. So he doesn't wanna lord it over anybody. Okay? So we've gotta be prepared to see him on a donkey or you might miss him on a cross. Okay? And they saw him in the miracles and they'll probably see more. But don't be confused. It's often said the crowd that said, praise him, praise him, praise him is the same crowd that says, crucify, crucify, crucify. We don't know that. Okay? These people are moving based on what they know and what they've seen. How about you? How about you? [01:03:08] (51 seconds)  #SeeHimInHumility