Please God to bless us as we
meditate in his holy word this morning. Let's turn to the Gospel
of Luke chapter 18 and we'll read verses 38 and 39. So the
Gospel of Luke chapter 18 and reading verses 38 and 39. And
he cried saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked
him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much the
more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. This little account which forms
part of this chapter and part of the Gospel of Luke also occurs
in Matthew's Gospel and in Mark's Gospel slightly differently. And we're told that his name
actually was Bartimaeus. It's not actually named here
but that was the person that this account is about. And so we're told that he was
indeed a blind man and he sat by the wayside begging. And of
course beggars in those days and a blind person wouldn't have
been able to do very much at all and therefore they were very
needy and they had to continue often day after day, begging
that people would look upon them and supply their needs. But this particular day was quite
an amazing day, because we're told that Jesus, as he was come
nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside
begging, and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. That was a fair question, wasn't
it? He heard these people coming past him. He wouldn't have been
able to see them, but he would have known there were a lot of
people by, obviously, their talking together and the movement. And therefore, he asked what
it meant. And they told him. that Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. Now obviously Jesus' name was
well known and he knew what it meant and therefore he cried
out and obviously he didn't just whisper it and just speak to
one or two people around him, he wanted to be heard. And therefore
he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the phrase that he uses is
really very significant because he doesn't just say Jesus of
Nazareth. He says, Jesus, thou son of David. And the significance is that
from the prophecies in the Old Testament, we know that the Savior,
the Messiah, would come through King David, through his family,
and through his offspring. and that will follow through
and you can follow that line of people in the first book of
Matthew and how one chapter first Matthew how wonderful it was
and therefore Jesus was indeed the Messiah was the son of David
And quite clearly, this man Bartimaeus believed therefore that Jesus,
although he was from Nazareth, yet more importantly, he was
the son of David. And more importantly, that signified
that he was indeed the promised Messiah. So we can understand
then, if we think of the background to this, This man, a blind man,
needed to have Jesus look upon him and give him his natural
sight. And so he cried out, very simple
words, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. He didn't expound,
he didn't exaggerate, he didn't explain that in any greater detail
than that. He just asked Jesus, Thou Son
of David, have mercy upon me. And of course the people around
him, they told him to be quiet. And that's often the case today.
People don't want us to speak about Jesus and they want him
not to be mentioned, and they want us to be quiet. Well, they went before, rebuked
him, that he should hold his peace. So what did he do? Well, we're told, he cried so
much the more. He wasn't silenced, he cried
so much the more. Again, the same words, we're
just putting or at least thou before it, which we have here
in the Bible. Son of David, have mercy upon
me. Well, did he expect to be heard?
I'm sure he did. He had a great need and he wanted
Jesus, the son of David, to hear him and to come and to speak
to him. So we might think, well, why
is that relevant for us today? Well, it's relevant for all of
us today because we all want Jesus. We should all want Jesus,
the son of God, not just anybody who was called Jesus, but this
one who is the son of David, the true God, the great savior. And it's a wonderful thing if
you and I, in our lives, have cried out, have prayed to God
that He indeed would have mercy on us. And you might say, well,
what exactly would that mean in our lives? Well, the earlier
part of this chapter told us about two men that went up to
the temple to pray. We're told one was a Pharisee
and the other was a publican. A publican, of course, in those
days was a tax collector. They were called publicans. He was a tax collector. And therefore
the Pharisee, the tax collector, stood and prayed thus with himself. He didn't really pray to God.
He just wanted to impress people. And therefore we're told he prayed
to himself. And what did he do? Well, he
showed what a great person he was, so he thought. He said,
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. You see, he pointed
in his mind at least and in his words to the other person that
had gone up to the temple to pray this publican who he quite
clearly despised. And then he said, well, I fast
twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. You see, the Pharisee was a sinner,
but he didn't realise he was a sinner. Whereas this publican
did, and therefore he wasn't proud, of his situation, he recognised
how he needed God to be merciful to him. And that's why he said,
God, be merciful to mere sinners. So we have the two characters
here. And what did God say? The Lord
Jesus said, I tell you, this man, that's the republican, went
down to his house justified. rather than the other. He was
just before God, justified. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Now I've just mentioned that
little account because it tells us what the publican prayed about. He wanted God to be merciful
because he was a sinner. And here we have this person
in this account and he's crying out, this man Bartimaeus, thou
son of David, have mercy upon me. And they rebuked him, but
he cried so much some more, Thou son of David, have mercy upon
me. So we can ask ourselves the question
as to whether we have come to God in this way and prayed that
God would have mercy upon us. And we should only really come
and pray like that. if we realise that we also are
a sinner. That means that we've disobeyed
the law of God, we haven't kept his commandments, we've pleased
ourselves and gone our own way. So what a mercy it is today if
you and I can look into our little lives and realise that we've
had an occasion, that we've cried, that we've prayed to God that
he would have mercy on us now the only person that can answer
that is yourself because no one else knows exactly what we pray
whether we have prayed you see many people are just like the
Pharisee very proud of their religion very proud of what they're
doing how great they are And that is satisfying to themself. Whereas we have this publican
who didn't think anything of himself. He wouldn't even lift
up his head. He was too ashamed of his condition
and his situation. No doubt as a tax collector he
defrauded a lot of people and he was convicted of that and
therefore he prayed that God would be merciful to him, a sinner. Well, again, it's a great blessing
if you and I have been shown that before God, we are a sinner. People don't like to think they're
sinners. And if you ask people in the
street today, are you a sinner? They'll probably say, well, perhaps
I've just said one or two things wrong. But they won't really
like to confess that they are a sinner. But when we realise,
and this is the blessing, when God shows to us that he is holy,
he is righteous, there's no sin with God, and that we are born
in sin. The Bible tells us we're born
in sin and shaped in iniquity. So all of us are sinners, And
all of us, therefore, need to receive God's mercy. Well, what
a blessing it is, therefore, if God has shown us that we do
have a need. We do have a need, and we do
pray to God that He will have mercy upon us. Well, we have
been told in this account This publican went down to his house
justified. He prayed from his heart. It
wasn't just like the Pharisee prayed from his head. He prayed
from his heart. And God said he went down to
his house justified. Well, here we have this case
of Bartimaeus then praying. And what did God do? What did
Jesus do? Had he heard him? Of course he'd
heard him. He knew where he was. He knew
what he needed. And we're told Jesus stood still. That's wonderful, isn't it? There
were crowds of people. There was this man, Bartimaeus,
crying for mercy, addressing Jesus as the son of David. And Jesus came and stood still. What a wonderful blessing. And
commanded him to be brought unto him. So the people brought Bartimaeus
to Jesus. And Jesus, when he was come near,
he asked him, saying, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight. Again, he had a right view, didn't
he? It's quite amazing, really, when
you think of it. He had a right view of Jesus
and addressed him as Lord. We have it here as capital L
for Lord, showing it was the true God. And he said, Lord,
that I might, that I may receive my sight. That was a short request,
wasn't it? Wasn't it a long request? Indeed,
Jesus' question to him was short. What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? And he very simply said, Lord,
that I may receive my sight. Now, we have this, don't we,
as an account, and we can understand exactly what it was. But of course,
the Bible is written really for our spiritual benefit. And it uses very simple illustrations
to show us what we need. And so here we have an illustration
that he wanted to receive his sight. Now, all of us as we're
born into this world, we're really born spiritually blind. That means we don't really understand
the truth of the Bible. And we need God to give us a
right understanding, to give us a spiritual understanding. And the Bible is such a complete
book. It tells us of our need, right
going back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned against
God what did they do? they disobeyed God they disobeyed
God they lived in that perfect environment and then Satan had
come and tempted them And attempting them in this way, he posed a
question. Hath God said? And that's exactly
what he continues to do today. We don't see Satan in a physical
form, but he is against us and he does put into our minds such
a very simple statement. Hath God said? And how do we
react to that? How do we react? Do we say, well,
the Bible tells me I shouldn't do that? Or do we think, well,
it doesn't really matter, I can just do that because it's rather
nice and I really want to do it. So Adam and Eve fell into
that trap. Eve listened to what the devil
said and she partook of that fruit which she should not have
done. Because it looked good, because she fancied it. And so
often we can do the same kind of things. We know perhaps what
is right and what is wrong, but we think it's very attractive
to us, and we want to do it, and therefore we do that which
is wrong. And what have we done? We disobey
God. What does that mean? It meant
that we've sinned against God. Now the terrible position is
that no sinner who is not freed from their sin
will never go to heaven. Therefore we have this statement
here Jesus our son of David have mercy upon me and that's what
everyone needs mercy The mercy of God is to take away our sins
the mercy of God is to show us That we are a sinner And that
Jesus is a great Saviour. And what this really means, in
this account here, the question was, what wilt thou that I should
do to thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight. We see the natural side, but
I hope I've just indicated to you what the spiritual side is. that we need our sins to be forgiven. And we need God to give us sight
to understand what the Bible speaks about. You see, it has
these very interesting accounts for us, but we shouldn't think,
well, that's just an interesting account. We should really ask
the question, well, what does it mean? What does it mean? What's the underlying truth which
is there? And in this case here it was
that he might receive his sight and if it comes down to us in
our spiritual life to realize that we want to be shown that
we are a sinner and that we need to be saved from our sins. And this word goes on. Jesus said unto him, receive
thy sight. And he says then, thy faith hath
saved thee. Now that faith, in his case,
gave him that natural sight, but also it would seem it gave
him his spiritual sight. And immediately he received his
sight and followed him, glorifying God. What a great blessing it
is when God opens our eyes to understand the Bible. To most people, the Bible is
just an historical account. But it's far more than that.
It's far more than just an interesting historical account. Because it
speaks to us about the spiritual need we have to be saved. And that need is to pray to God for mercy. Pray to God for mercy. I wonder
if we've ever done that, or if perhaps we think we're alright
and we're doing alright and we're just like the publican. Well,
we live a pretty good life and we do this and we do that. So
different, you see, the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee
was like that. The publican realised he was a pretty poor man. He
realised he was a sinner and needed mercy. And so we have
this further picture of Bartimaeus crying to God that he might then
receive his sight. And Jesus said, receive thy sight. What a blessing then if our spiritual
eyes have been opened and suddenly we realise, wow, the Bible tells
me things I never really understood. And how good it is when Jesus
therefore opens our eyes and we receive this spiritual sight. And he tells us, Thy faith hath
saved thee. Faith, of course, is to believe. Believe things which may appear
difficult, may appear almost impossible. But what a mercy
when God gives us faith to believe. Faith to believe the truth of
the Bible. Many people mock the Bible. Many
people think it's just a whole list of fairy tales and has no
relevance to us today, but it does. It is the very Word of God. Indeed, remember what Jesus said
in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John when he prayed to his
father. It's a wonderful prayer to think
that Jesus, the Son of God, prayed to his father in heaven. And
he said this, thy word is truth. And so it is. People may mock
it. People may say it's a whole load
of fairy tales and it's totally irrelevant to the day and age
in which we live. Well, it's not. The Bible never
comes out of date. It never becomes old-fashioned
because people need to have their sins forgiven. They need to know
that Jesus came into this world, as the Apostle Paul tells us,
to save sinners. To deliver sinners from the punishment
due to them. because of their sin. We all
deserve the punishment of God. We all deserve to be cut off
so that we never go to heaven, but we end up in that terrible
place of hell. But what a mercy to know that
we have God's truth to read. And what a blessing, because
Jesus said, very simply, Receive thy sight, that was naturally.
It's wonderful when Jesus says that to you and me, in a spiritual
way, and says, receive thy sight, thy faith that save thee. And
then we come to this last verse, which is really amazing. And
immediately he received his sight. And so it is spiritually. When
God speaks, immediately, we receive our spiritual sight. And it had
a wonderful effect upon this man. A wonderful effect. And immediately he received his
sight and followed him, followed Jesus, glorifying God, that means
praising his name, And all the people, when they saw it, gave
praise unto God. They'd seen what had happened. And that's true in the lives
of people today. It's wonderful with people today
when we receive our sight. And what does it do? It changes
us. It changes us. We want different
things. We say different things. We act
differently. There's been a change in our
lives. And all the people, when they
saw it, gave praise unto God. So we can see, can we not, that
this really was a very wonderful account that we have recorded
here for our encouragement. We see the natural position,
but we also see the spiritual side, and how good it is today
if we come and realise that we have a need, this blind man had
a need, this publican had a need, and everybody has a need. But
very few people realise they do have a need. But what a blessing
for us today if we come into this situation and cry out, either
like the publican who cried out in these words, God be merciful
to me, a sinner, Or like Bartimaeus who cried out, Thou son of David,
have mercy upon me. You see, prayers don't have to
be long and complicated. No, the best prayers are short
and simple. The best prayers are direct.
to Almighty God. But such prayers must be uttered
in faith, believing that we come to the God asking for mercy,
to a God who can give us mercy. and can receive us. And therefore
we can be very thankful that God has given us this wonderful
gift. Because as we follow on through
the Word of God and as the Holy Spirit gives us faith to believe,
what do we see? We see the great plan of salvation. Salvation means, of course, the
saving of the soul. And the whole plan of salvation
Right from those early days in Genesis, it was prophesied that
Jesus would come into this world to save his people from their
sins. And how was that to be carried
out? Well, Jesus was the one who was
to pay the price to take away our sin. If we sin, We need to
be rid of our sin. And there's a price to be paid
to take away that sin. But you and I can't pay that
price. We don't have the ability to
pay that price. We may say we don't have the
right currency to pay the price. Because the price that God the
Father required was that a perfect person should give his life. No one has ever lived a perfect
life apart from one person. I'm sure you know who that person
was. That person was Jesus. Jesus lived for 33 years. He never sinned. He never sinned. He never had a wrong thought.
He went about doing good. He lived a perfect life. And
of course, at last, he died that death upon the cross. And that death was sufficient
to pay the price to take away all of our sin. And so when we
come and pray to God like this, Thou Son of David, have mercy
upon me. The mercy is that God comes and
takes away our sin. God the Father sees what His
Son has done in giving His life upon that cross at Calvary. In
giving His life, He shed His blood, His precious blood. And my friends, it's through
that death that you and I can come like this and receive our
sight. Oh, what a wonderful blessing
it is to receive spiritual sight. And what does that mean? It really
means to be found looking unto Jesus. We read in the Hebrews,
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. That means that God teaches us
he is the one the author is the one that begins and also the
one that finishes our faith and what a blessing for us today
if we are found therefore praying to god that he will have mercy
upon us and that means looking to jesus praying to jesus believing
that jesus is the only one that can save our soul the only one
who can pay the price who has paid the price to take away our
sin. And what's the result? Well,
the result really is in this last verse, this 43rd verse,
and immediately he received his sight and followed him. He followed Jesus. What a blessing if you and I
follow the Lord Jesus and glorify God. We praise God. for his wonderful love toward
us, so unworthy. We won't feel we're justified
ourselves like the Pharisee, but we will feel like the publican
who cried to God for mercy. And so then to receive our spiritual
sight and to then come and glorify God for his mercy to warn us. We prayed for mercy, God has
shown us his mercy and he's given us that good hope that one day
we shall be with him in glory. One day we shall be with him
in heaven forever and ever. It's a wonderful prospect for
the true Church of God. So we have a lovely simple illustration
for you and me to understand what a mercy it is when God opens
our eyes to see how wonderful it is that God in his love toward
us came into this sinful world to deliver us from the wrath
to come to save our souls and give us that good hope that through
his grace grace means unmerited favour through his unmerited
favour Our souls are saved and we, by His grace, shall spend
eternity in glory. Well, it's a very simple illustration,
isn't it? It's a lovely chapter, this 18th
chapter of Luke, and you can go home and you can read it,
and you can ponder it, and pray God will give us a right understanding
so that every one of us may come and truly glorify God. Amen.