And please turn in your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Luke chapter 18, and we'll pick up in verse 31. This is God's Word. And taking the 12, he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him. And on the third day, he will rise. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside, begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And he cried out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, what do you want me to do for you? He said, Lord, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, recover your sight. Your faith has made you well. And immediately, he recovered his sight. and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. So ends the reading of God's word. Let us pray and ask the Lord's blessing. Lord, we ask that you would do for us what you did for this blind beggar. Lord, we come before you as blind beggars, as those in need of help. help beyond what the world can offer, help beyond what we can do for ourselves. Would you open the eyes of our blind hearts? Would you cause us to see that we might be counted among those who glorify and praise the Savior? We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. In 1744, a man named John Newton was forcibly taken and was made to work as a slave for the British Navy. Later, he was traded to a passing ship, ironically a vessel that was engaged in the African slave trade. And for years, Newton lived recklessly, blind to the truth of God's grace. He mocked the very idea of God as he pursued his own sinful desires. Well, then not long after, in 1748, a violent storm battered his ship against the coast of Ireland. As the waves crashed and the ship began to break apart, Newton found himself gripped by terror. In his desperation, he did something that he had never done before. He cried out, Lord, have mercy on me. It was a moment that would change his life forever. He survived the storm, but more importantly, this moment set his life on a new trajectory. one that would lead him to write those famous words that we sung just a moment ago. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. And in one sense, Newton's story is very interesting and very unique. But in another sense, it is the story of every single blind sinner who comes to faith in Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter 18, verses 31 to 43, we meet another man who cries out for mercy, a blind beggar sitting by the roadside. Unlike the disciples, who at this time appear to be spiritually blind to Jesus' mission, this man, though physically blind, sees Jesus for who he truly is. And so he cries out in faith, and he persists in crying out to Jesus, not only for the recovery of his physical sight, but more importantly, for salvation itself. And so Jesus responds, not only healing the man, but also offering mercy and compassion as he says those wonderfully sweet words, recover your sight. Your faith has made you well, or saved you. Sight, in this passage, is a vivid picture of faith, a lens through which we see Christ and his work for what it truly is. And so we'll consider three aspects of faith this afternoon. The foundation of faith, the cry of faith, and the fruit of faith. So let's hear God's word and see how Christ opens blind eyes and transforms broken lives. So first Jesus lays the foundation of faith. Faith is not a mere feeling that we have. Faith is not maybe a feeling or an experience of the divine. No, faith is built upon something. Faith has a foundation. You see, Christianity is not primarily about what you do. It's about what you believe. Now, certainly what we believe will impact what we do. It certainly should. What we believe will bear fruit in how we live. But at its core, faith has a content. a firm foundation. And our passage opens with Jesus taking his disciples aside in order to lay that foundation for them. He begins by reminding the disciples where they're going and why they're going there. He says this, see, we are going to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. Jesus did not come into the world to wander aimlessly. He came with a purpose, as he says here, to fulfill all that was prophesied. He came to fulfill every prophecy of the Old Testament, every type, every shadow, the whole Old Testament. His mission would culminate then in Jerusalem, not as an unfortunate fate or an unforeseen tragedy, but as the very plan of God unfolding. See, the cross is not a detour from his mission. Rather, it's the destination of his mission. And this is something the disciples struggled to understand. In their minds, the idea of the Messiah suffering is just something they couldn't comprehend. Suffering and Messiah were two words they would never put in the same sentence. How can the king of glory be a victim? How can this Daniel's exalted son of man be humiliated and handed over to his enemies? And they're not the only ones who misunderstand Jesus and his purpose. Even today, people try to redefine him in ways that fit their own perspective. Some see Jesus as a great moral teacher, an example of kindness and peace, who shows us a better way to live. And if only we were a little bit more like Jesus, then the world would be a better place. Others see Jesus as one of many paths to God. Because after all, don't all religions essentially teach the same thing? Be nice to other people, maybe they'll be nice to you, and if you're nice enough, well then, you'll go to a better place when you die. Some admire Jesus as a life and as a story that inspires us to be better people. But Jesus, if you listen to him, he doesn't give us that option. He tells us exactly why he came into this world. Christ came for a purpose. He came, as he says, to fulfill all that was spoken of by the prophets. And this is an echo, what we've heard throughout the book of Luke, but in particular, it's an echo of what Luke said as he opened the book, where he wrote these words. Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished, are fulfilled among us. That's Luke's purpose of writing. He's writing of those things which Jesus has fulfilled. And beginning in verse 32, Jesus lists seven things that will be fulfilled in Jerusalem. First, he will be delivered over to Gentiles. Certainly Jesus knew that he would be condemned by the Jews, his own kinsmen, but clearly he's also aware that the Gentiles will be complicit in his death. And he will be mocked. Psalm 22 describes how the Messiah, the anointed one, is mocked by all of those around him. Can you imagine that? Christ, God in the flesh, comes and is mocked, is treated like a fool. Not only that, but they treat him shamefully. This is the sense of being mistreated or even bullied. It was foreordained that Jesus' death would not be a slow death, but long and excruciating. And beyond the physical things, he will face every emotional and psychological torment. He will be spat upon. The Greek word for being spat upon is onomatopoeic, which essentially means that it's sound, the word sounds like what it means, what it sounds like. Eptuo is the Greek word. In the ancient world, to be spat upon was the greatest form of disrespect and disdain. Matthew's gospel records how they will spit in his face. Well, then Jesus moves now from the psychological torture to the physical torture. For next, he describes how they will flog him. This flogging refers to the use of the cat of nine tails, an instrument used to lash victims who were about to be crucified that would, as it was pulled away, rip flesh from bone on the backs of its victims. Some of you know the story of the Greek philosopher Socrates. Socrates was arrested and sentenced to death by the Athenians because they didn't like his teaching. He was a wandering teacher. They didn't like what he had to say. They didn't like his influence on society. And history tends to look back at Socrates as a kind of a noble martyr, someone who went to his death with dignity, as it were. But Socrates died by taking a cup of poison hemlock in his holding cell that his loyal followers had snuck to him so that Socrates would avoid the shame of a public death. He would avoid the ridicule of a public execution, but not so for Jesus. Jesus didn't slip away into death. His death was as terrible as it could have been. He was mocked. He was slandered. He was spat upon. He was treated shamefully, and he was tortured. He was not surrounded by his devoted and loyal followers like Socrates. Even his loyalist followers had abandoned him. He was now surrounded by those who hated him with seething hatred that would cause them to spit upon him and curse him and mock him and laugh at him. He was not given a moment of dignity in death, but stripped of all dignity, nailed to a cross, lifted up for all to see. And yet the most amazing thing about all of this is that Jesus knows that all of this is coming. None of this is a shock to him. None of this will take him by surprise, and he will face all of it with courage, and even as Hebrews tells us, with joy. with joy, for he is the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. You see, Jesus' suffering is not a sad accident of history. I think maybe for those who don't understand the significance of his death and how it was foretold, it does appear very sad that this good moral teacher would be so cruelly treated. Yes, he was cruelly treated, but he went there knowing what was ahead of him, and he went there for a purpose, that he would fulfill all prophecy. You see, his death is not a tragedy, but by faith we see it is a triumph, as Isaiah 53 had foretold. He was pierced for our transgressions. And as that happened, the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. And finally, Unlike Socrates, Jesus did not stay dead. Jesus not only knew that he would die in the most terrible of ways, but he also knew that he would be vindicated. He knew Psalm 16. He knew Psalm 116, that would speak of how the Messiah would not be abandoned by Sheol. It would not ultimately take him captive, but that he would be released from the bonds of death, and he would rise to a glorified state. And he did. He rose again from the dead. On the third day, he ascended into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Why is all of this important? It's important because this is the very content of our faith. This is the very foundation of what we believe. Our faith is built upon this truth. You see, our faith as Christians is not rooted in how we feel, how we feel changes from day to day. It's not based upon an experience we've had or even a sense of the divine. It's certainly not based in a conjecture or in man-made philosophy or religion. No, our hope is founded upon specific truth about who Jesus is and what he has done. something that scripture repeatedly calls the good news of the gospel. And without this gospel, this gospel, there is no Christianity, there is no faith, there is no hope, and there is no eternal life. Many today redefine Christianity and the gospel in all sorts of ways. Maybe on one end of the spectrum, some people recast Christianity as being all about works and social justice and doing this and doing that for one's fellow man. And ultimately, that's what Christianity boils down to, social justice. Well, Christianity can be recast at the other end of the spectrum, where Christianity is simply having good conservative American values and being a good person, a good citizen on that end of the spectrum. Now certainly the gospel has implications for all of these things, for how we live as citizens in the world, how we treat one another, how we treat our neighbors, but these things are not the gospel. If we strip Christianity of the cross and the empty tomb, or if we add anything else to the gospel, then we are left with an empty religion that may inspire, but cannot save. As Paul says, this, the gospel, this gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And this gospel has a content. There are specific things that you must believe in order to be saved. To be a Christian, there are specific things that you do believe. And that's why this content is something that is to be taught by the church, it's to be known by the church, it's to be memorized, it's to be believed, and it's to be confessed, it's to be proclaimed by the church. The gospel is the truth of Christ's becoming incarnate, living under the law, fulfilling all righteousness, fulfilling all prophecy of his dying as a substitute for sinners. and is being raised to glory so that we who hope in him might also be raised on the last day. This is why we study these things, not to kind of build up a Bible trivia in our mind, but rather because it is the very stuff of our faith. This is what we believe. When we recite the words of the Apostles' Creed, or as we'll do later, the Nicene Creed, we're not just rattling off old words from church history. Rather, we're confessing the very truths that define our faith. We're reminding ourselves of what is essential and what alone has the power to save sinners. That's the foundation of our faith. And after laying the foundation of faith, the passage secondly shifts to the cry of faith, the cry of faith. So Jesus has now wrapped up his personal Bible study with his disciples. He has explained everything that's gonna happen. He's put all his cards on the table, as it were. So now, surely, the disciples understand everything, right? They've finally got it. It's clicked in their minds. Well, shockingly, we read in verse 34 how they understood none of these things. The saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. Well, which is it? Do they not understand? Or was it kept from them? Well, both are true at the same time. They have a spiritual dullness. They're spiritually immature in their understanding of the kingdom. And yet at the same time, what they need is for God to open their eyes. They need that work. But for now, these things are obscured from them. But interestingly, there's another contrast, as we've considered Luke Love's contrasts. While the disciples remain blind to the truth of who Jesus is, to some extent, Luke introduces a man who, despite his physical blindness, spiritually sees very well. A blind beggar sits along the roadside. And his blindness has made him utterly destitute. He's probably a beggar and poor because he's blind. In the ancient world, if you're blind, there's probably not very much you can do by way of gainful employment. His survival would have been dependent upon the charity of others. You know, people in that society would have seen him as expendable, you know, a drain on society. Certainly, this is a man who has nothing to offer Jesus or anyone else. He's got no wealth, he's got no status. Again, think of things the way the ancient world thought of things. You know, if you invited him over to your house, there was no way he would better your social status in the community. Well, as Jesus passes by, the beggar hears the commotion of the crowd. And of course, since he's blind, he can't see what's going on, and so he has to ask, what's happening? And the response comes to him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Now, if we heard someone say Jesus of Nazareth is outside, we all want to run outside there. That would be incredible. But the term Jesus of Nazareth is not a title of honor. It's like saying John of Carlyle. It's not a title of significance. So it's just the man's name and the place where he's from, nothing special. But notice how the beggar cries out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David is a significant title. By calling Jesus Son of David, the blind man is acknowledging that this is Jesus, this is the Messiah, the Christ, the one promised by the prophets. You see, long ago, God had promised to King David that one of his sons would come and he would be righteous. And by that righteousness, he would earn the place on David's throne from where he would reign forever. And he would usher in a time of righteousness and goodness and joy and peace and prosperity for his people. And kings came, and kings went, and Israel looked at each king with anticipation. Is this David's son? Yeah, we know he's in the line of David, but is this the son that is coming? And many lost hope, but some still hoped that this son would come. And here this blind beggar sees Jesus, and he, by faith that is, and he knows that this is the one promised. And we know he is the son of David, don't we? Luke tells us that Joseph, Jesus' adopted father, is of the house of David. The angel tells Mary that God will give her son the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. So this blind beggar is able to see what the disciples have not been able to see, what the crowds apparently are not seeing. He sees by faith that this isn't just some wandering teacher, wandering miracle worker, this is the son of David, the promised king, the Messiah. And so he cries out in faith for mercy. However, the crowds don't approve of his cries. We read how those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. Now, it's not clear who those in front refer to. It could refer to Jesus' own disciples, which is behavior, well, unbefitting of them, but befitting of them in the sense that as you think of how they just recently kept the children from coming to Jesus, well, now it may be that they or others are keeping this blind man, this beggar from Jesus. Jesus doesn't need to waste his time with this man. But despite their attempts, it doesn't stop him. He continues to cry out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me. Our Lord again shows that he does have time for the orphan and the widow and the outcast. And he asks that this man be brought to him. And then he asked the man, what do you want me to do for you? And the blind beggar responds, Lord, let me recover my sight. Now, we know from the context that this request is more than just a plea for physical healing. Remember, he's already referred to Jesus as Lord and as Son of David. He has repeatedly cried for mercy. So this is not merely just a request for a miracle of healing. Rather, it's a cry for salvation. To kind of put it crudely, he wants all that Jesus can offer him. And in fact, even his request for the recovery of sight is a quotation of Jesus' own teaching and preaching from his Galilean ministry. Our brother Ryan, a moment ago, read from Isaiah 61, but in Luke chapter four, Jesus takes that passage and he applies it to himself, and he says this. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And so this man knows that Jesus is the promised figure from Isaiah 61. He is the one who is able to proclaim liberty and to save him. And so this man is trusting and essentially praying to Jesus, Jesus' own words, and Jesus fulfills his words. Jesus answers, recover your sight. Your faith has made you well. Now, I don't know if you've ever found that promise, those words that Jesus applies to himself in Luke chapter 4, kind of strange. You know, the language of how this servant will proclaim the recovery of sight. It's kind of an odd way of putting it, isn't it? If we were to write it, we might say, he will heal the blind rather than he will proclaim recovery of sight. I'll admit I struggled with understanding why that language, but here it makes it clear. This is exactly what Jesus does. Jesus proclaims the recovery of his sight, and he sees his sight is recovered. This healing, of course, as I said, is more than just sight. It also pictures the presence of a deeper reality. Again, we see that Greek word, well, you see it in English, but the Greek word that comes up again and again in the context of Jesus' healings is sozo, which can be translated either as to heal or to save. And really, I think it refers to both of those senses here, where Jesus is proclaiming both healing and salvation. So Jesus has done more than simply restore the man's vision. He's granted him salvation. Light now exists where Darkness once ruled, not just in his eyes, but also in his soul. Now, this man, by faith, has physical sight, but also has received eternal life. It's sad, many never come to Christ because they don't see their need. Think of the rich ruler in the previous passage. Physically, his eyes were fine, but spiritually, he was blind to his own poverty. He had everything the world values. He had status. He had success. He had wealth. He had power. He had standing in the community. But he lacked the one thing that mattered, saving faith. The blind beggar, by contrast, has nothing, and yet he saw what truly mattered. He came to Jesus with no wealth, no status, no works to offer. He simply cried out for mercy, and Jesus heard him, and Jesus was merciful. Do you recognize your need for mercy? Your faith begins when we acknowledge our own spiritual blindness, our helplessness, our sin, And this is hard to do in and of ourselves. It goes against our nature. It goes against what the world tells us. Because what does the world tell us? The world tells us that you're OK. You are enough. The world tells you to be self-reliant, self-sufficient. Your problem isn't that you doubt your sin and yourself and your ability. The problem is you don't believe in yourself enough, the world tells you. Follow your heart, the world says. But the gospel, by contrast, calls you to abandon all self-reliance and to cry out to Jesus for mercy. Who else cried out for mercy? Remember the prayer of the sinful tax collector. Whereas the Pharisee boasted in his works and what he had done for God, the tax collector simply cried out for mercy. Mercy. Mercy is what David asked for when he sinned in the most disgusting of ways. Murder, adultery, possibly rape. Mercy is what he prayed for in Psalm 51. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. The great promise of the gospel is that Jesus is merciful. Romans 10 tells us everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Have you called on the name of the Lord? Have you cried out for mercy? Probably everyone in the face of the earth calls out for help or for mercy at some point in their life when there's some kind of difficulty happening or when one loses a loved one. But have you cried out to God not to fix your problems or to fix your life or make your life more easier or to have a better job? Have you cried out for mercy because of your sins? Because you've seen your wretchedness, even if you're very young, you know you're a sinner. Have you cried out for mercy from Christ? Oh, may the Lord humble every heart that we may see our sin, we might see the Lord, and that we might cry out to him for mercy. Well, we've considered the foundation of faith. We've heard the cry of faith. Now third, we'll observe the fruit of faith. Well, the gospel is clear. The only way that one is saved, or more particularly justified, is by faith alone. As we've gone through Luke, this is a point that Jesus has hammered home in every parable, in every teaching moment, in every interaction with the Pharisees, in every interaction with an outcast. We are saved by faith alone in Christ alone. And yet, a genuine saving faith will bear fruit. Our Confession of Faith puts it this way in the chapter on justification. It says, faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification. So how are we saved? How are we justified? Faith alone. We don't bring our works. We just trust and receive. But then it continues, yet Faith is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied by all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love. So faith that is genuine, faith that is trusting in Christ alone, faith that is rooted and founded on the promises of the gospel, will bear fruit. Faith will be set to work. Again, our works don't earn us eternal life. Our works don't keep us from losing eternal life, as it were. But having received eternal life, our faith does work. Our faith produces fruit. And we see that in the case of the beggar. After Jesus heals him, look at what he does next in verse 43. And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. What evidences of fruit do we see here in his life? Well, first, he began to follow Jesus. This is evidence of a change that's happened in his heart. The changed heart will follow Christ. What does it mean to follow Christ? Well, it means to be his disciple, which means obeying him. means desiring to be like him. This itself is a work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives the believer a new disposition and a new set of desires, where once we walked in darkness, where once we followed our own hearts, now we're following Christ in his heart. And if you're in Christ, if you are trusting in him by faith alone, well then you are a follower of Christ. You've been given this new heart. Certainly you've been declared righteous before God, But more than that, he has worked in you. He's given you a new nature, a new set of dispositions. Now, one that loves Christ, where once you may have mocked God and mocked Christians, now you love Christ and you love your fellow Christians. You love his word. You desire obedience. This is what the gift of faith does. It reorients a person's entire life towards Jesus. It doesn't mean as followers of Christ that we'll never sin. We will. It doesn't mean we'll never struggle. But it does mean that when you do sin, you're acting against your new nature. You're acting against the new life that Christ has given you. The true believer will not be content to remain in sin, but will repent and walk in ways of righteousness. So be encouraged if you're a follower in Christ, however imperfectly. This is evidence of his saving work in your life. Know that he has given you all that you need for life and godliness, and know that he who began a good work in you will see it to completion. So the man follows Jesus. The second fruit we see is joy. This man, once blind and once hopeless, now walks away joyfully praising the Lord. Again, compare this with the rich ruler from earlier. He had everything the world values, everything we wish we had. Wealth, status, standing in the community, morality. But he walked away from Jesus sorrowful. Why? Well, the text tells us he was sorrowful because his heart was tied to his riches. In contrast, this blind man who has nothing, I'm sure he's happy he has his sight back, but apart from his sight, he has nothing else, yet he walks away rejoicing because now he's found everything in Christ. Joy is one of the marks of a Christian. Joy is a fruit of our salvation. Christian joy is not based merely on our circumstances, but rather is a deep, unshakable gladness that comes from knowing Christ. I think of all the Christian virtues, joy is probably one that is most neglected. I think as Christians, it's very easy for us to fall into despair. even as we think about maybe the state of the church, or we think of the state of the nation, or the state of the world, and maybe we even think that we're being spiritual as we're despairing and grumbling and being critical. And yet joy is a virtue. Joy, Paul writes in Galatians 5, is one of the fruits of the Spirit. I think it's too easy for us to think of the fruits of the Spirit as simply things that the Spirit does. Yes, the Spirit gives us the virtue or the habit of joy, but that virtue is ours to work out, to cultivate, to exercise. We are to be a joyful people, we are to respond even through suffering. Yes, it's appropriate for us to respond with lament, but there can also be joy. Christian joy is not only cultivated by thinking about what we've been saved from, judgment and wrath, but we cultivate Christian joy as we consider what we've been saved to, a life of godliness and ultimately eternal life in the presence of God. This is how we can have joy even in our suffering, because our joy is not rooted in temporary comforts, but in the hope of glory. The prophet Isaiah pictures the consummation of all things as a tremendously joyful time where there will be feasting, not fasting, where the veil of death that covers the nations is removed. You know Revelation well, where it describes the consummation as a tearless time, a time again of feasting, a time filled with much joy. This is how we can have joy even now, even as life is filled with challenge, even as we now experience the loss of loved ones, because our joy is rooted in what has been promised and what is sure to come. Well, third and finally, Luke tells us that this man walked away glorifying God. Once this man was healed, immediately he began fulfilling the very purpose for which he was made, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. You know, when people live lives that are opposed to their very purpose for existing, is it any wonder Why there's so much anxiety and depression and hopelessness and confusion about human identity and gender. We were made to glorify God and to enjoy our life in him. And notice how this man, once he begins to live for the very purpose of his existence, there's a domino effect. Others see what God has done for him. They see his changed life, and they too begin to glorify God. There's a ripple effect that takes place. When God changes a life, others notice. Transformed life is a great testimony to the power of the gospel, the work of the Spirit. And if you're a Christian, your life is and is by design to show and to be a light to a dark and unbelieving world, a light that perhaps is not always shining its brightest, but one, even in its moments of flickering, is one that testifies to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his grace that preserves you. And through it, the Lord draws others to worship him. Well, finally, the question for you today is this. Have you truly seen Jesus with the eyes of faith? Have your eyes been opened to see your sin, your need for Christ, who he is, what he has done? Have you abandoned your self-reliance and have you cried out to him for mercy? If so, then follow him with joy and gladness. Glorify him throughout your life. Be a testimony to others that they too might give praise to God. If you have not come to Christ, if you are still spiritually blind, let this passage be an invitation to you to call out in faith, to ask him to give you sight, to open your eyes to the beauty of the gospel. Children, ask him for those eyes of faith. Ask him to fill you with understanding where you don't understand. Ask him to forgive your sins. For even now, he is passing by to our faith. And those who cry out to him will never be turned away. Oh, may we all in faith trust him more and give him all the glory now and into eternity. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled all of the Law and the Prophets. and who even in healing and restoring sight to this blind beggar shows us the mercy that awaits all who call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you give us, Lord, more sight, more clarity, that we might love you more and more and glorify you more and more through all of our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.