This man decided – “I’ve had enough. I want Jesus to change me. I don’t want to stay here in this place.” Most people will stay like they are and will not change until the pain of staying as they are is greater than the pain of change. This man believed Jesus could change him, he believed Jesus could change his life. So when he heard Jesus was coming by, he began to cry out.
You have had enough of living in spiritual darkness, enough of being in a spiritual prison, enough of reaching out to people to try and come through for you. Reach out to Jesus. This is how he did it – he raised his voice – “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” He used the term ‘Son of David’. This was the name given to the coming saviour of the world. So what he’s saying is this – “Jesus I know you save people. I know you can break the power of sin. I know you can break the power of the devil. I know you can change me. Jesus!”
Now, notice what the crowd did – many of them: “Shh be quiet. Don’t do that. Just stay like you are. Be quiet, don’t cause a fuss.” A crowd of people often is not interested in your welfare. They were objecting to being interrupted. They were objecting to the noise. Listen, they were objecting to his faith. There’s no record anyone else was healed. He had faith. Faith is not silent. When you have faith in your heart, it always shows up. It shows up in three ways for this man.
Number 1, he cried out to Jesus. Number 2, he persisted when people resisted. I love this next statement – they said: “Be quiet, stop this noise. This is a national day. Don’t cry out on the national day.” It says – he cried out even louder. When people tried to stop him, he’s more determined. “Wait, Jesus!” They go: “Quiet, quiet. We get the police on you! You’re causing trouble you know.” He cried louder.
Then Jesus stopped. Now, when you have a big crowd of people, there’s a lot of noise. Ever been in a big crowd? There’s a lot of noise. But in the midst of the noise, Jesus heard something that stopped Him. “I hear someone.” “Hey, of course you hear people, there’s hundreds here.” “No, no. I hear someone.” He stopped because He heard the cry of faith. He stopped because there was someone different out there. You see, Jesus didn’t just hear the crowd, His ear singled out one person who believed enough to keep crying out when everyone was against him, resisted him.
Sometimes we don’t get answers straight away from God. There’re a number of stories in the Bible when people didn’t get an answer straight away. Maybe you haven’t gotten an answer straight away when you’ve cried out to God. Maybe if people have tried to discourage you. But faith is never discouraged. Faith never gives up. You cry even louder, even stronger. The more the resistance, the more he cries out!
So number 1, he cried out to Jesus. Number 2, he persisted when everyone resisted him. He was determined! “I will have a miracle today!” Jesus heard him. He said – “Stop, someone’s calling out. Bring him to me.”
Notice how the crowd changes – one moment they said “Quiet. Too noisy. Disturbing us. Be quiet.” Next thing, “Oh, He’s calling for you. Not for me, for you.” Jesus doesn’t call for the person who’s complaining. He reaches out to the person with faith. “Hey, how come He’s calling to you? Why not me? Because I’m complaining and trying to shut down faith.”
So, notice it says – this is what he did – he threw off his garment and he rose and he came to Jesus. Now that garment was very significant. See, it was the official beggar’s garment so you needed that to do the begging. Probably had to pay a license fee for it. So when he threw it off, he’s saying – “my life is about to change.” He said – “I’m as good as got that miracle because Jesus is calling me to Him.”