Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll open our hymnals to hymn number 67. Let's stand as we sing hymn number
67. O Savior, as my eyes behold the
wonders of thy might untold, the heavens in glorious light
arraign, the vast green thou hast made. And yet to think how
lovest me, my heart cries out. How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like
me Oh, how can it be? As at the cross I humbly bow
And gaze upon thy thorn crown brown And view the precious cleaning
form by cruel nails so bruised and torn. Knowing thy suffering
was for me, in grief I cried, How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? That God should love a soul like
me Oh, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? Was ever grace so full and free
From heights of bliss to depths of woe In loving kindness Thou
didst go From sin and shame to rescue me Balls of divine, how
can it be? How can it be? How can it be? that God should love a soul like
me. Oh, how can it be? Be seated. In our chorus books, on page
29, number 29 in our chorus book, On a hill far away Lied the Christ
of the cross He yielded to suffering and shame. And there in His grace, He died
on place, the purpose of Not to fulfill So I'll cherish the
Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will plead to the Christ of
the Cross, for He is the King I must grab. Oh, the Christ of the Cross,
so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left
His glory above to bear all mine sin on the tree. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross For He is the King I must crown In the Christ of the Cross and His
blood so divine, a marvelous beauty I see. For He opened my eyes that long
had been blind, to behold Him now on His throne. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, and before His throne I'll bow I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross For He is the King I must crown To the Christ of
the Cross I must ever be true His shame and reproach gladly
bear For in love He constrains, till
all shall be gained, and His glory forever I share. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, And before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of
the cross, for He is the King I must crown. Mark chapter 10. Finish up this
chapter. It's one of the longest chapters
in Mark. 52 verses in it. We've been here
a long time. But Mark, start at verse 46 and
go to the end of the chapter. For even the Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his,
well, I'm in the wrong place, but that's okay, that's a good
one to read too, ain't it? Give his life a ransom for many.
And they came to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the wayside begging. And when he
heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, saying,
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that
he should hold his peace. And he cried the more, a great
deal, Son of David, have mercy on me. And listen to this, and
Jesus stood still. That's a good title for a message,
ain't it? Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And
they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort,
rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said
unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And our Lord
said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And
immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Our blessed Savior, our great
and glorious God in heaven. What a blessed thing it is to
read the word of God. See our Lord Jesus Christ in
it. See that blessed beauty that
we believers can see in him. See the wonderful power, the
amazing grace, the milker workers that he does. And Father, we
bless you and praise you that you allowed us this side of eternity
to meet again. Thank you for waking us up, closed
in our right minds, with the ability and the desire and the
strength to come and be together to worship the one true and living
God and his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, there's not another
God like you, not a God that create, not a God that can save
a soul, not a God that can be just and justify her, not a God
that's infinitely holy and at the same time can stay holy and
save wretched, wretched, wretched sinners. Oh, what amazing grace. And Lord, we are so thankful
to come to your presence. And Lord, we ask for your presence
in the service today. Lord, I just pray that you'd
cause the gospel to go out of here today in power, great power,
power to hearts and minds, powers to the understanding, power to
save the lost, power to give sight to the blind, power to
raise the dead from their sin. Lord, you're the only one that's
got the power to do that. And Lord, we pray for those who've
been requested prayer and those who we know that need prayer. We pray for them. We pray for
a dear man that we've known and ask for your mercies and grace
to be given to him, to uphold him and meet the needs that he
has. And Lord, We pray for your forgiveness
of everything that's so unlike you, so unlike you, which is,
it's amazing that all you've done for us that we could be
so unlike you in so many ways throughout a day. Please forgive
us. Bring glory to yourself in this
service today. Have mercy, mercy, mercy upon
our children, our grandchildren, sons and daughters. and our families,
for Christ's sake, amen and amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Our sovereign God maintains His
universal throne. In heaven and earth and hell
He reigns and makes His wonders known. His counsels and decrees
firmer than mountains stand. He will perform whate'er He please,
and none can stay His hand. All things His will controls,
And His all-wise decree Has fixed the destinies of all In matchless
sovereignty. Jacob, by grace he's saved, And
gives no reason why. But he solves far, he left, he
brave, And whom shall dare reply? What if the potter takes Part
of a lump of clay And for himself a vessel makes And casts the
rest away? Who shall resist his will Or
say, what doest thou? Jehovah is the sovereign still,
And all to him must bow. ? My soul bow and adore ? ? The
Lord in all his ways ? ? His sovereignty none can explore
? ? But I will trust his grace ? ? For of him and through him
? And to Him are all things. To Him be glory evermore. Amen, amen, amen. Be seated. I believe every word of that. Every word of it. Every word
of it. Well, look back here with me
in Mark chapter 10. We'll talk about the blind beggar.
His name's Bartimaeus. And there's four points that
I want to stress this morning. Mercy needed. Mercy sought, mercy
given, and mercy enjoyed. Ain't nobody asked the Lord for
mercy that he didn't give it, that he didn't give it. And it's a desire, I believe,
of all of us who trust the Lord Jesus that everyone here was
like Bartimaeus. And what is Bartimaeus? He is
a seeker after the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ was present,
he sought the Lord Jesus Christ. And there he is sitting in his
poverty. He is poor. Sitting there in his poverty.
Sitting there in his darkness. Sitting there in his begging
clothes, his beggar clothes. Clothes not very good. You know,
a fella that's begging for a living, he ain't got very good clothes.
Sitting there and his clothes weren't very good, probably ragged,
probably smelled a little bit. But sitting there in his darkness.
But he heard some commotion. He heard some commotion. And he heard that it was Jesus
of Nazareth coming by. And he was persuaded that he
was the Messiah, the son of David. Now, I'll tell you something
about Bartimaeus, something that he did. He might have been blind. He was utterly, utterly blind. And the only living he could
make was by begging. He could not see, but he had
ears and he could hear. He could hear. He used what senses
he had. And not only could he hear, but
he had a voice, and he used both of them. And it says there in
verse 46, and when they came to Jericho, as he went with his
disciples, a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus sat
by the wayside, begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out. He heard, he heard,
And when he heard, that's what he said, verse four, heard, then
he began to cry out. Heard and cried, heard and cried. And you know, if you'd receive
your sight, if you would receive your sight, God does something
for you. You know what you can do? You
could hear. Everybody in here has got two
ears and you could hear. Faith, faith cometh by hearing. That's what Bartimaeus done.
He heard and he began to cry out. Faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. And that's how faith comes. You
don't go to it, it comes to you. And I tell you, I want to describe
this blind man's salvation, this Bartimaeus. And he asked for
mercy twice. He says there in verse 47, Son
of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him, verse 48,
that he should hold his peace, and he cried the more, Son of
David, have mercy on me. He was going to have mercy. Oh,
my! And you know, he needed mercy.
He needed mercy. And I'm going to say something
right here, and I don't know if y'all believe it or not, but
this is true. The only people that God shows mercy to is His
elect, to His people. I know that people get in trouble
and they say, Oh Lord, give me mercy. I want mercy. But God
only shows mercy to people who need it and people who want it. And the only people who need
it and the only people who want it is God's people. It's just
more than a byword. It's more than just a cry. And
you go through the scriptures and every place where you find
mercy shown, it's shown to God's people, always, always. And here
was mercy needed. Why did he need mercy? Because
he is blind. He was blind. My oh, how it says
a blind man. They came to Jericho and there's
a blind man May not Nick Marta Bartimaeus and you know, the
scripture said if our gospel be hid, you know, it's it to
them that are blind Them that are blind and unless the light
the light there's nothing wrong with the light and There was
nothing wrong with the sun when Bartimaeus sat there. There was
nothing wrong with Christ when He come by. There was nothing
wrong with the sun, nothing wrong with light, nothing wrong with
the candle, but the problem was with Bartimaeus. He was blind.
He couldn't see the sun, couldn't see light. The problem was with
him. And I'll tell you, he was born
blind. The scriptures tells us the natural man. The natural
man receiveth not the things of God. And listen to this, not
only will he not receive them, but he can't know them. He was
like Bartimaeus, I mean, like Nicodemus, when our Lord said,
you must be born again. And he said, oh my, what are
you talking about? He said, except a man be warned of the water
and the spirit. He can't see. He can't see. He can hear, but
he can't see. Why can't he see? Because he's
blind. He can't see the kingdom of God. He can't enter the kingdom
of God. Do you know why? Because he don't
see it. You know who rules over him? Sin rules over him. Death
rules over him. Self rules over him. Pride rules
over him. And he can't see. He's like Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus. The defect was not
in the light. The defect's not in the gospel.
The defect's not in Christ, who is the light. The defect's in
men's eyes. They're blind, that's what's
the problem, that's the problem. And oh my, but he couldn't see
Jesus, but he heard. And in Bunyan's holy war, there
was, when Emmanuel began to assault the city of Mansoul, you know
where the first place he set his battering rams? At the ear
gate. Bam, bam, just kept hitting that
ear gate, hitting that ear gate, you know, getting right there.
If it ever gets through there, He gets to that understanding.
That's what he's talking about. And not only was he blind, but
look what he says, he was poor. It's look what he said, he sat
by the wayside, sat by the wayside, going in and out of Jericho.
A lot of people travel through there and he sat by the wayside. And what was he doing? He was
begging, begging, begging. You know, there's a lot of people
begging today. You can go to a lot of cities
and stuff and people ask you if you've got any money or they'll
set a thing out and people stand by the interstates, you know,
hold up a sign, you know, I'm homeless and all this and all
that rigmarole. Good jobs everywhere but they
won't go take that. But this fellow was really, really
poor. Now, I've been in poor countries
where people had that, nothing else they could do but beg. The
last time we was in Mexico, we was outside a cathedral, and
there was a person, didn't have any legs, a woman, didn't have
any legs, she was on a little roller, and she sat outside that
cathedral, sat on a little roller, didn't have no legs, with a little
cup sitting there, so if somebody went through there, they might
drop a peso in there. She's a beggar, and that's what
he was, he was a beggar. He's sitting there, his life
depended on people doing something else for him. If he got a penny,
somebody had to give it to him. If he had a meal, somebody had
to give enough money till he'd go buy something to eat. That's
how poor this man, he was a poor man, he was a beggar. And oh,
look in Psalm 40, look, I'm gonna show you something. Here's a
king over here in Psalm 40. Here's a king who said he was
poor. Get Psalm 40 with me. He said
he was poor. Oh my. Oh, he was a poor man. Begging, sat by the wayside begging. And look what David said here.
He's the king of Israel. He wrote most of the Psalms.
And this is what he said about himself. But I am poor. I'm poor. And I'm needy. I m poor and I m needy. How did
he get poor? His daddy was poor. Who was his
daddy? Adam. Adam in the Garden of Eden
lost EVERYTHING that the human race needed. He lost his clothes,
he lost his wealth, he lost his place, he lost everything. He
became poor and he passed his poverty on to everybody else.
You know how we all became poor? Through our Father Adam. You
know why? That we were so poor that we
wore fig leaves. Didn't have no clothes to wear. That's how poor we was. And yet he says this, yet the
Lord, he thinks about me. He got his mind on me. And Lord,
be my deliverer. Don't make no tarry. And oh my. And you know what? Our father
Adam left us. You know what Bartimaeus' father
left him? And what Adam left us as an inheritance? Poverty, rags, hopeless. And if we get anything from God,
we're gonna, Lord, please give it to me. You know, all we can
do is hold out a hand and only God can be the one to give it.
Oh, my. He left him in poverty, left
him with fig loafs and left him with a bunch of excuses. Lord,
it's a woman that you gave me. That's the first thing they start,
excuses. That's what we do when we're
poor. We start making excuses. He said, it's the woman you gave
me. And then the woman said, it was the devil. It was that
serpent that come in here and he beguiled me. Neither one of
them said, I am guilty and I've done this on my own. But Bartimaeus
was blind and begging and sitting by the wayside. and he lost his
house, our father lost his house. Do you know what his house was?
In paradise. God said, get out of here. You
ain't gonna stay here no more. No ability, and I'll tell you
what, he had no ability to better himself, Bartimaeus didn't. He
was born blind, he was a beggar, and he couldn't do anything to
change his situation. Nothing whatsoever. And you know,
bar means son. And he's called him Bartimaeus.
Bar means son, Timaeus means son. Son of Timaeus. And his daddy, his daddy couldn't
do anything for him. His daddy was as poor as he was,
I guess, but his son was blind and begging. Daddy couldn't help
him. And he was conscious of his poverty. He was begging,
he was begging. And I tell you the people that
have to be, I don't feel sorry for people that's like that.
But listen, I'm telling you something, pity. I pity the people that's
got sufficiency of their own, sufficiency in their rich, in
their wealth. You know that they're like Laodicea. We're rich and increased with
goods and have need of nothing. That's where we are now. You
know, most people are so, so wealthy now and so self-complacent
now and so wealthy now and so materialistic now and got everything
that they could possibly want, And our churches are falling
away. There's not a sovereign grace
church nowhere that's not falling away for lack of people having
an interest, a lack of people being committed, a lack of people
just saying, I don't need it as much as you think I do. But
I'm here this morning because I'm a beggar. I'm a beggar. I got both hands out. I got a
heart that cries out. I got a soul that cries out. My wife and I talked about it
coming home. She said, that's once you start
begging, you never stop begging. Once you start believing, you
cannot not believe anymore. And once you start seeking the
Lord for mercy, you're always seeking the Lord for mercy. You
never stop. You never stop. And he was conscious
of it. Oh, pity the self-sufficient.
And not only was he poor, not only was he blind, but he was
hopeless. He was hopeless. The only way
he could ever, ever receive his sight was somebody else to give
it to him. He needed a miracle. He had to
have a miracle wrought on him. And he probably expected to die
in his blindness and poverty. He expected to die like that,
die like that. But now look what happens. Verse
47. And when he heard that it was
Jesus in Nazareth, our Lord passed by. We sung that song, you know,
this morning. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he passes by. You know, and Jesus passed by
everything. Everything about salvation is
a miracle. Everything about it's a miracle.
I mean, you know, it's a MIRACLE that you and I are saved. You
know, when God said, Let there be light, the light didn't resist
Him. When God said, Let the heavens
and earth, the heavens be created and light be created and firmament
be created, nothing resisted Him. But the only person that
resists God is man. He resists Him, and what does
God have to do? He's got to pass by. And when
He passes by, if you're one of His, and you're poor, and you're
blind, and you're helpless, and you're hopeless, you know what
you'll do? Oh, Lord! Oh, my, I tell you what, God's
salvation is a miracle. Election is a miracle. Did anybody
here know that they was one of God s elect until He told them
that and taught them that? Election s a miracle! Did you
ever think for a minute in all your life that God said, I love
Him, I choose Him? We sung that this morning, Jacob
Abba loved, but I left Esau in his depravity. Oh, election s
a miracle! Elections a miracle that God
would save anybody, but He done it by choice, His choice. He took a lump of clay, and like
I said, He made some vessels of honor, some vessels of dishonor. He made some vessels of glory,
some vessels of mercy, and some vessels of dishonor. And I tell you, when He makes
a vessel of mercy, this is one of them vessels of mercy right
here, because that's what He asked for, mercy. And out of
that lump of clay, you know what he did? He said, I'm gonna make,
I'm gonna make, this is one of mine. I'm gonna make him, I'm
gonna make him a new heart. I'm gonna make him a new mind.
I'm gonna make him new eyes. I'm gonna make him a new creature. Oh my, not only that, but I tell
you something else a miracle. Christ coming into this world,
you talking about a miracle. That he come through the womb
of a virgin and that Christ come into this world. To do what? To give His life a ransom, to
lay down His life, to shed His blood, to shed that blood that
would wash us from our sins, redeem us from our iniquities.
Oh my, and then there's a miracle of life. You think about it. Lazarus was dead four days. Four
days. They didn't even bomb people.
In Egypt, they'd bomb people, but boy, they didn't. And they
didn't bomb people. Four days, he'd been dead, swelled
up, black, blue, all swelled up. But when Christ said, Lazarus,
come forth, he that was dead came forth.
Dead men don't come forth. They do if Christ tells them
to. And oh my, and then there's the
miracle. I'll tell you something else,
another miracle of us believing, us to believe it. What a miracle
that we believe. You know how many unbelievers
are in this world? We believe. God made us believers. Oh, the miracle of seeing, the
miracle of hearing. Oh, my. Look over in Luke chapter
16. I want to show you something
over here. Oh, a miracle. Jesus passed by.
Look what a miracle here. And I think it's verse 23. Oh,
it's Luke 10, not Luke 16. I can't even read my own writing. It looks like 16 to me, but it's
a 10, 1023, 1023. And he turned him unto his disciples
and said privately, blessed are the eyes which you see, the thing
that you see. things that you see. For I tell
you that many prophets, kings, have desired to see those things
which you see and have not seen them, and to hear the things
that you hear and have not heard them. The prophets searched diligently,
trying to find the tongue of Christ and His glory, but they
couldn't see it until God gave it to them. And then, oh my,
mercy needed. Then mercy sought. Look back
here with me now in verse 47. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, began to cry out. And he said, Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me. Mercy sought. And there was a
great crowd, you see there it says, and a great number of people
with the Lord Jesus Christ, a great number of people. And he began
to cry out. There wasn't no soul winner here
to lead him to Jesus. There wasn't nobody telling him
to pray the sinner's prayer. There wasn't nobody telling him
to A, B, C's of salvation, ask, believe, and confess. Nobody
tell them to repent of your sins, and then God will save you. No,
there was no soul winner there. And when it said he began to
cry out, do you know what that means? Now there's a crowd there,
and they're making a lot of noise. There's a great number of people
following the Lord Jesus Christ. When it says cried out, that
means he screamed. He screamed out, cried out. You know why? Because he's got
to get heard above all that crowd. He's got to be heard all over
all those peoples. He began to cry out, and he saw
the Lord under great discouragement. Nobody prompted him to cry out
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look what it said down
in verse 48, and they'll say the disciples done it, but said
a lot of those folks in that crowd charged him, said, Bartimaeus,
shut up. Shut up! You re embarrassing
yourself! You re shaming yourself! You re causing a lot of commotion!
The Lord s going somewhere else! You just shut up, Bartimaeus! And I mean there was a lot of
folks that went up there and said, Shut up! Shut up! Shut
up! Shut up! Stop! But you know what the scripture
says? The kingdom of God suffereth
violence. That means it allows violence.
And you know what violence, and he said the violent take it by
force. This is a man that's taken the
kingdom of God by force. He said, I'm not gonna quit.
I'm not gonna stop. I'm not gonna stop. They said,
shut up. You know, they discouraged him.
They discouraged him, charged him. And that word charge means
command in a certain way. As if they had the authority.
Bottom is, you're making a scene here. You're embarrassing yourself,
you're embarrassing people around you. Ain't nobody cares about
you, you're poor, you're blind, and you're a beggar, and your
clothes are raggedy. What are you doing? What are
you doing? And look what it says. They charge
him that he should hold his peace, but what happens? He got louder. He just got louder. He cried,
he cried, he cried the more a great deal. He got even louder. He
was dead earnest. Oh my. He cried the more a great,
great deal. Nobody, nobody is gonna keep
me from asking Christ from asking the son of David for mercy. Nobody's gonna keep me from crying
out for mercy. And I'll tell you something,
when God does something weird, nothing's gonna keep you from
crying out for mercy. Nothing or nobody, mama ain't,
daddy ain't, husband ain't, wife ain't, kids ain't. Nobody's gonna
stop you. I don't care. That's I remember
so well So well when I was in my I think I was 22, maybe 23
And I guys like Bartimaeus I got to where I was at the end I was
I didn't have no hope no hope no hope no hope And I didn't
know that I you know, I as far as God was so I didn't have nothing.
I But I do remember, and I told you this before, I got down before
the Lord in our house, and I said, Lord, you don't owe me nothing. I know that, you don't absolutely
owe me nothing. But if you will, and I know I'm
a dog, and that's why I admitted that I was a dog, a stinking
dog, a sorry dog, and that nobody would have anything to do with
a dog. But I said, Lord, if you will, if you will, will you show
me mercy? If you show me mercy. And my
life changed. Oh, how it changed. Yeah, it changed. And it's still
changing. You know how it's changing? I
was young, now I'm old. I sought mercy then, I'm still
seeking mercy now. I needed grace then, I still
need grace now. I had no strength then, I ain't
got no strength now. I had no sorry clothes, and if
Christ hadn't have clothed me, but oh my, that's what I'm telling
you. He cried the more a great deal. He cried them more a great
deal. Lord, meet my needs. Oh, Lord
Christ and Christ to meet his need. Now let me tell you something.
So he had mercy sought. That's the second point. Mercy
needed, mercy sought. Now look what he said to Annie.
He sought the right thing. Yes, cried out for mercy twice. He sought the right thing. He
sought mercy. Have mercy upon me. have mercy upon me. It s like there were two men
went up to the temple to pray. One of them bragged. Oh, he bragged. He bragged to God and he bragged
to everybody around there to listen to him. I thank you. I m not like nobody else. I fast I PRAY, I TITHE, I ATTEND
TO SERVICES, I GO TO CHURCH, I LIVE RIGHT, I GOT MY HAIR COMBED
RIGHT, I GOT EVERYTHING'S RIGHT FOR ME, I READ MY BIBLE, I DO
MY DEVOTIONS. And oh, he bragged on himself.
But there's also another fellow there. And the altar's up there on the
hall. The sacrifice is up in front.
And that other fella, he didn't even lift up his eyes. That man
was lifting up his eyes, bragging. Bragging to God and everybody
hearing. But that other man, he wouldn't even look up. And
he touched his heart. That's where my problem's at. He said, Lord, Have mercy on
me, thee sinner. I'm the only sinner in this building
today. And he said, would you have mercy
on me, thee sinner. He didn't say a sinner, thee
sinner. Are you a thee sinner? That's where the problem's at
right there. My and I tell you he came to he sought the right
thing Mercy listen to me now Mercy is the first necessity
and then after God shows you mercy then there'll be peace
then there'll be joy then there'll be assurance God will have mercy
and not sacrifice And then not only that but he come to seek
mercy from the right person He said Jesus son of David Son of
David. Who was the son of David? He
was the promised Messiah. He was the promise, he was Christ.
I want you to look with me in Matthew 22. Matthew 22. I want to show you a couple of
things about Christ as the Messiah, as the son of David. And you
know, when David was going to build the Lord a house, God told
him, said, no, no, don't build me a house. I'm going to build
you a house. I'm going to have somebody sit on your throne forever
and ever and ever, and he meant the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said here in Matthew 22,
41, While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? What
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto
him, The son of David. So he asked them another question
then. He said, How then doeth David in his spirit call him
Lord? The Lord said unto my Lord, Set
on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
If David then call him Lord, how is he son? Same way David bowed to the Lord
in the Psalms. And no man's able to ask him
another question. They didn't ask him another question.
And then look in Jeremiah 23. Ah, boy, you're talking about
a gospel message over here. Jeremiah 23 and verse six. Oh, he come to the right person.
He come to Jesus, the son of David. He came to the right person.
And look what it said here in verse six. Jeremiah 25, 23, In
his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And listen to
this, Now let me start at five, I started
at the wrong place. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I'll raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. And in His day, in Christ's day,
the King's day, David's day, the righteous branch days, the
King's day, in His day shall Israel be saved. And this is
His name where we'll bless you called the Lord, our righteousness."
Oh, that's who he's talking to here. That's who he's talking
to here. And oh my, and I tell you, he had heard of our Lord
Jesus Christ, of His works, of His claims. And he believed what
he heard. He believed what he heard. And
all his hopes were centered on this man who is passing by through
Jericho. Passing by through Jericho. And
here's the thing, and Shirley mentioned that this morning.
My wife mentioned it this morning. She said, who shall we go to?
We got no options. We got no other place to go but
to Christ to ask for mercy. Got no options. And that's what
He says, you know, He said, where will you go? He said, all these
people went away. He said, ask the twelve, will
you go away also? Lord, to whom shall we go? Who shall we go to? You've got
the words. You've got the life. We don't
have anything except what You've got and what You give us. We're not leaving. You know why?
Because we believe that You're the Christ. You're the Son of
the Living God. Oh, my. Oh, how sweet the name
of Jesus sounds in a blind man's ear. It soothes his sorrows,
heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. He sought the
right thing. He sought it from the right person.
He sought it at the right time. When? When Christ was present. When Christ was passing by. The Lord Jesus was passing by. That's what it said over in Luke
18. It said Christ was passing by. Oh, he passed, the Lord Jesus
passed and he saw it at the right time when Christ was there, when
Christ was present. Oh, now he began to cry for mercy. People say, well, I don't feel
sinful enough. You never will. You don't have
any idea how sinful you are. So it's not in how sinful you
feel. It's just in what you know about
yourself. You don't trust yourself. And
it's don't wait till you say, well, when I get faithful enough.
Oh, no. Not when I get strong enough,
then I'll be out, then I'll go. Not when I get good enough. But
this man didn't have any of that. He was poor. He was blind and
he was begging. Huh? Oh my. And so all he sought
mercy, mercy's needed. Look what happened. Now look
what happened. And what, look in verse 49. And
Jesus stood still. You know, when the Lord Jesus
Christ is present, if you seek mercy, he'll stop right where
he's at. He stood still. That crowd was
moving, going on, but he stopped. He stood still. He stood still. Oh my. Oh, David said, I love
the Lord because he hath heard my cry. And look what else it
says, but not only did he stand still, but he gave a commandment. He didn't say, now this is your
chance. You're not going to get another
one. Now, you know, this is your opportunity
to accept Jesus. This is the time to exercise
your free will. This is the time to exercise
your faith. No, no. Instead, what do you say? He
commanded. He commanded. Preachers may ask,
but God don't ask. He commands. He commanded him.
He commanded him. What did He command him to do?
He commanded him to be called. Who did He command? I don't know. I don't know who He told to do
this to. But I do know He commanded him to be called, and whoever
He told, that's exactly what He did. And they called the blind
man. They called him. Bartimaeus! Bartimaeus! Get up, get up, get up. Be of good comfort. That's the
first thing he needed, comfort. Be of good comfort. Be in good comfort. What's gonna
comfort you? Get up. He's calling you. He's calling you. Me? I asked for mercy and he's calling
me? Get up. Get up. Rise, comfort,
rise. Oh, his heart and soul was distressed. He cried the more. And he had
to be heard above the crowd. But he says, now be comforted.
He calls you. And what comfort it is. His comfort,
oh my, what a comfort it was. He calls you. The one you asked
mercy for. He called you. He called you. He didn't call nobody else. He called you. He called you. And oh, the Lord called him.
That's what comforted him. That's what comforts anybody's
heart. The Lord called him. Called him. You know, there's several calls
in the Bible. There's the universal call. There
s a universal call. Every time somebody preaches
and I tell you what you know our Lord Jesus said, He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not
shall be damned. Our Lord calls men. Oh, he calls
me, and it's like Mary has a, you know, and it comforts you,
you know, that comfort. Mary was out looking for the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he wasn't there. And
you remember when our Lord Jesus, oh my, he said, Mary, and she
looked around and said, oh, thought he's a gardener. He called him.
And then not only is that the universal call, But there's the
character call. What does that character call
mean? You meet a certain character,
characteristics that Christ called. He called a blind man here. And
you know He calls ye that are burdened and heavy laden. Are
you burdened and heavy laden? If you're not, He's not talking
to you. He comes to call sinners to repentance. If you're not a sinner, He's
not talking to you. If you're not blind, He ain't
calling you. If you're not poor, He's not
talking to you. That's just how simple it is.
He only talks and calls certain people. And oh, there's the character
call, character call. And then there's the preacher
call. That's what I'm doing this morning. Every time I preach,
I'm making a call. I'm making a call. You know what
the preachers used? He's just a voice. What voice
does He do it? He describes sinners accurately. He describes Christ as accurately
as He can, and He addresses sinners and Christ as the only hope for
a sinner. That's all I'm called to do.
That's all I'm called to do. And then, and this is the one
I like the best. effectual call. Be in good comfort. Get up! He calls you. He's calling you, Barnabas. He's
calling you, an effectual call. Oh my, look what it says, and
he, and he, oh my, he arose, he arose, and he casting away
his garments, got up and came to Jesus, huh? What in the world
is he talking about? Oh, my. He arose and cast away
his garment. He left his position as a beggar. And why did he throw his garment
away? Because it was filthy, because it stunk. And let me
tell you some garments that you got to get shit on, huh? Your
garment of self-righteousness, that's got to go. Your garment
of self-trust, that's gotta go. Oh my, your garments of waiting,
I'm gonna wait, that's gotta go. And you know why I cast away
his garment? Because it was filthy, filthy,
filthy. It was a filthy garment, cast
away his garment. And then our Lord said unto him,
and Jesus answered and said unto him, what will you that I should do
unto you? What do you, you've been crying
for mercy. What do you want me to do for you? What do you want
me to do for you? You ever ask yourself, what would
I have the Lord to do for me? What would you have him do for
you? Oh, the Lord is willing, but
that's got to happen. Something got to happen first.
He got to confess. He got to confess. And what's
he going to confess his need? His need. His need. And what does He say? And then
now here's mercy and joy. Enjoyed. Look what He says. Lord,
that I might see, that I might receive my sight. I don't want
to be blind anymore. I don't want to be a beggar anymore.
Oh Lord, I want to see. I want to see. I want to receive
my sight. I want to see. And oh, may God
give you sight today. And you know what our Lord said
to him? Go thy way, thy faith has made
you whole. He believed so much that he would
not let anybody, he already, you know, why was he a believer?
Believers cry out. And he cried out, thy faith has
made thee whole. And oh my, without faith it's
impossible to please God. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. Your faith has saved thee. He
received, and look what it says, and immediately he received his
sight. He didn't have to do anything.
He said, he didn't have to, he had no preconditions. He just,
he said, I won't see. And the Lord said, okay. Immediately
he received this sight. And you know the first thing
he saw when his eyes was open? The first thing he saw when his
eyes was open? He saw the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the first thing he saw. That's what happens to us. When
God gives us sight, the first thing we see is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And once you start looking at
him, you never stop. You never stop. Oh, the first
thing he saw was the Lord Jesus. He had heard, but now he sees. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. Was blind, but now I see, now
I see. Oh my, look what he says. Now
go your way, go your way. And then the Lord immediately
received his sight, and which way did he go? He didn't run
home and say, I've got to go see Mom and Daddy. I've got to
go out in the countryside and look at the flowers and see what
things look like. No, what did he say? He followed
Jesus in the way. Oh, the love of Christ constrains
us. What Christ did for him, said He's done this for me, I'm
going to follow Him. I'm going to follow him. And
he followed him after he received his sight. Blind men couldn't
have followed him, but a man's got sight can. A man's got sight
can. May God give somebody sight today. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed,
blessed name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that
you command somebody to be called today, and that they'll arise
and throw off their old garment of self-righteousness and self-trust
and self-confidence, self-hope, throw it all away, and come to
you, get their sight, be able to see, and see you in all your
glory and all your power and your willingness to show mercy,
your willingness to show compassion, your willingness to give grace.
Oh, God, let it be done today for Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amazing grace, how
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart
to fear and grace my fears relieved how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, I have already come, Tis grace
that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home when
we've been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun
NO LAST DAYS TO SING GOD'S PRAISE THAN WHEN WE BIRTH BEGUN. Bartimaeus, the first hour he
believed, first hour he believed. Grace, first hour he believed.
Can you imagine what it was? I believe, I see. Well, see you
tonight, six o'clock, God willing.