Keith Battle - No More Excuses

If you have a Bible, turn to Luke chapter 18. If you have a Bible, also turn to Luke 19; there are two passages that I want to examine together: Luke 18 and 19. I’m going to start in verse 35 of Luke 18. Thank you, praise and worship team; always excellent, and thank God for the brothers and sisters working on that parking lot tonight in the rain. Yes, you should crack your window and say thank you to those people tonight. They do that all the time. If you think it’s easy, go out there and try.

Luke 18, let’s pray. Father, please speak to us through your Word. I thank you for the privilege of serving, and I pray that you would love us in this time, instruct us, empower us, inform us, and radically impact our lives. Speak to us in ways that we need it, and I thank you for the privilege of being your servant now. I pray that you would use me for your purpose and glory in Jesus' name. Amen.

Verse 35 of Luke 18 says, «As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening, and they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was going by. So he began shouting, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! ' Be quiet! The people in front yelled at him, but he only shouted louder, 'Son of David, have mercy on me! ' When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, 'What do you want me to do for you? ' 'Lord, ' he said, 'I want to see.' Jesus said, 'Alright, receive your sight; your faith has healed you.' Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God too.»

Now, to chapter 19, verse 1. «Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in that region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. 'Zacchaeus, ' he said, 'quick! Come down. I must be a guest in your home today.' Verse 6: Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house with great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. 'He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner, ' they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, 'I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much.' Jesus responded, 'Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost.'»

I want you to stand up. Stand up for me. You don’t have to work on this; just stand up for me. My subject tonight is «No More Excuses.» I want you to go to five people; you have to leave your section, go to five people, and say «No more excuses.» Look them right in the face: «No more excuses, no more excuses, no more excuses.» That’s five! No more excuses. If not you, who? If not now, when? No more excuses. You may be seated; no more excuses.

If a blind beggar can figure out how to get what he wants, what’s your excuse? If a short man will climb a tree to get to Jesus, what’s your excuse? No more excuses. The word excuse has an etymological root in Latin; it comes from two words. The word «ex» means to be out or without, and the word «cuse» is where we get the word «accused.» So, «excused» means to be without accusation, to be outside of being accused. That’s what it means to be excused. If you call in sick to work and you are really sick, that is a legitimate excuse; you are without the accusation for not being where you were scheduled to be.

That’s not the kind of excuse I want to talk about tonight. The kind of excuses I want to address are those we intentionally create for why we remain in the same situation we’ve been in, complaining about it but unwilling to do anything to change it. Look at somebody one more time and say, «No more excuses.» I’m saying that in 2018, you had a lot of excuses, and you might take some with you into 2019. But one thing you should resolve not to take with you in 2019 is excuses.

In this story, I’m amazed that these two stories are right next to each other, and it makes sense chronologically for them to be adjacent due to where Jesus is geographically in these two passages. If you look at Luke chapter 18, verse 35, where I started reading, it says Jesus is approaching Jericho. He is approaching Jericho, which means he’s not there yet. Then he has this encounter with the blind man.