Thank you joy Good evening We're
just so very very thankful that the Lord has given us this opportunity
to gather together to open his word to uh, trust his spirit to open
our hearts and reveal to us the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We've come here to worship him and to preach his gospel. And
we're very, very thankful that you all are here. I'd like to
read a passage of scripture to open our service tonight from
Psalm 40, Isaiah 42, I'm sorry, Isaiah chapter 42. We will meet again tomorrow morning
at 10 and Sunday morning at 10 and we'll have lunch prepared
after both of those services. So hope that you'll be able to
come back and be a part of those services. The only announcement
that I need to make is, um, there's a lot of stakes out here in this,
in this lot behind the building. Um, those wooden stakes cost
a lot of money to have put where they are. So, uh, if we see any
kids run around using them as swords, the parents are gonna,
have to come up with some engineering fees. No, we're going to break
ground, Lord willing, Tuesday morning on our new building.
And if you could just drive around the stakes, avoid them, please
don't move any of them. We need them to be right where
they are. All right, you have your Bibles
open to Isaiah chapter 42. The Father, God the Father, is
speaking to me and you. He's speaking to his church.
And he's telling us to look to his son, his servant, his elect,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is God's word to
us tonight and always. Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my spirit delighteth. God the Father is
pleased with his son. and pleased with all those who
are found in his son." He's not pleased with you and me, he's
pleased with Christ. He said, Behold my son, mine
elect, the one whom I uphold, the one in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Messiah. He's the anointed one. He's the
one who came in the full power of the Spirit of God to accomplish
the salvation of his people. And so God is saying to you and
me, I put my spirit upon him. He's been anointed with the oil
of gladness above his fellows. He came with the full measure
of the Spirit of God that he would not fail. Look what he
says. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. And he did. When he shed his
precious blood on Calvary's cross, all of God's justice and judgment
and righteousness was satisfied. He shall not cry. The Lord Jesus
Christ is not looking for a following. He knows where each one of his
lost sheep are, and he's going to bring them to himself. He
doesn't go about begging men to let him have his way. He shall
not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. A bruised reed shall he not break. Now that's us,
isn't it? We've been bruised by our own
sin. And the Lord says, I won't break
you. A smoking flax. The picture here is that of a
wick of a candle that's running out of oil, and it's flickering. And he says, what do we do to
those wicks? Oftentimes, we wet our fingers
and put them out, don't we? He says, I'm not going to do
that. I'm going to put new oil in the lamp, and I'm going to
breathe my spirit upon it. I'm going to rekindle the flame.
That's his promise to us. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and a smoking flack shall he not quench. He shall bring forth
judgment. unto truth. And that's what we're
concerned with, the truth. I don't care about anybody's
opinion, or what somebody thinks, or what does God say? What sayeth
the scriptures? And that's what we'll hear this
weekend, I'm confident of it. He shall not fail. There's no way for the Lord Jesus
Christ to fail in what He came to do. What did He come to do?
Save His people. And he did just that. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged. Our God is not in the heavens
wringing his hands, wishing that men would let him have his way.
Oh no, he's reigning sovereign on his throne. He's not discouraged.
He's in complete control. Till he has said judgment in
the earth and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith
the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out,
he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of
it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit
to them that walk therein. If we're to breathe, God's going
to have to give us breath. If we're to have his spirit,
he's going to have to give us his spirit. I, the Lord, this
is the father speaking to his son, I, the Lord, have called
thee in righteousness and will hold thy hand and keep thee and
give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles. Now the first hymn we're going
to sing tonight is a favorite hymn for us. It's called The
Covenant, Ordered and Sure. The hope of our salvation is
is that covenant of grace that God, the Father, God, the Son
and God, the Holy Spirit established in eternity past the covenant
that the Lord Jesus fulfilled when he came and gave his life
for his sheep. To open the blind eyes. We would be spiritually blind
to all the truth of God if Lord didn't open our eyes. to bring out the prisoner from
the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. Sin, Satan would hold us in bondage. The Lord didn't deliver us. He
came to set the prisoner free. Oh, I'm so hopeful that you and
I will experience that this weekend. I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory will I not give to another. The Lord Jesus Christ gets all
the glory because he does all the work. Neither my praise to
graven images. We're here to worship the living
God. By God's grace and by his spirit.
Lord will enable us to do just that. Would you bow with me for
word of prayer, please? Our merciful Heavenly Father,
how hopeful and how thankful we are for thy precious promises,
revealing to us the glory of thy dear son, promising, Lord,
to inhabit the praise of thy people, promising to walk among
the candlesticks and to make yourself known where two or three
are gathered together in thy name. Lord, we ask that you would
be pleased tonight and this weekend to rend the heavens and to come
down and to make thyself known. Deliver us from our sin. Give
us life eternal in the life, death and resurrection. The glorious
ascension of thy dear son. Or we ask it in his name. Amen. Will you turn with me in
your spiral hymnal to number 21, the covenant ordered and
sure. Let's stand together. Tom's going
to come and lead us. And if you haven't already, please
take this time to silence your phones. ? God the Father and the Son ?
And the Spirit three in one ? In eternal ages past ? Made a covenant
sure and fast ? God my Father chose his own in the person of
His Son, and ordained that I should be one with Him eternally. ? God the Son agreed to come ?
In the flesh to bring me home ? He would keep God's holy law
? And retrieve me from the fall ? Christ in love so willingly
Stood as my great surety, For my price he offered blood, To
appease the wrath of God. God the Spirit, heavenly dove,
promised to come down in love, bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen, purchased race. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and he brings us to the lamb. By his mighty sovereign
call, God's elect are gathered all. This poor sinner is secure. ? For God's covenant will endure
? It is sealed by God's own word ? By his spirit and his blood
? Blessed holy covenant God I am yours by ties of blood, ties
of grace, and ties of love. Hold me to my God above. Please be seated. Turn over to number five in the
spiral hymn book that should be in your hand there. We're
going to sing hymn number five. And after that, Adam Charit is
going to come and bring special music, wherever Adam is. All
right, number five. ? Come ye sinners poor and wretched
? ? Weak and wounded, sick and sore ? ? Jesus ready stands to
save you ? ? Full of pity joined with power ? ? He is able, he
is able ? He is willing, doubt no more. He is able, He is able. He is willing, doubt no more. Come, ye needy, come and welcome,
God's free bounty glorify. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings us nigh. Without money, without money,
come to Jesus Christ and buy. Without money, without money,
come to Jesus Christ and buy. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to have a need of him. This He gives you, this He gives
you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. This He gives you, this
He gives you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. Come ye weary,
heavy laden, bruised and broken by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Adam. In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength,
my song. This cornerstone, this solid
ground, firm through the harshest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths
of peace, when fears are still, when strivings cease. My comforter, my all in all,
kept by the love of Christ alone. Christ alone, who took on flesh,
fullness of God in man ordained. This gift of love and righteousness,
scorned by the ones he died to claim. Still on that cross my
Savior died. The wrath of God was satisfied. His people's sin on Him was laid. I live in the death of Christ
alone. There in the ground his body
lay Light of the world by darkness slain This bursting forth in
glorious day Up from the grave he rose again And as he stands in victory,
the stain of sin is washed from me. For I am his, and he is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in
death, this is the peace we have in Christ. From life's first
cry to final breath, saints persevere as God abides. No power of hell, no scheme of
man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns. or calls me home, I'll rest in
the power of Christ alone. Till he returns or calls me home,
I'll rest in the power of Christ alone. rest in the blood of Christ alone. That's our hope. Chris and Vicki were coming to
Orlando on vacation this week and when I found out they were going
to be here I shamed him into preaching for us. Chris is a
dear friend, dear brother and a faithful preacher of the gospel.
Chris, we're so thankful you're here. Vicki, glad you're here.
Sorry to mess up your vacation, brother. You come up and tell
us what the Lord's put on your heart, OK? Well, being here with you all
tonight in any capacity is Impossible to think of as messing anything
up. It's just such a blessing to
be here with you as you sang that song brother that. A verse
of scripture came to my mind under him that loved us. And
washed us. From our sins. In his own blood. Under him be glory, dominion
and power forever and ever. I I wonder. A lot and sometimes
I ask it back home and so that we can think about it. I wonder
if we really understand what's happening right now. What the
Lord is doing right now, what this is, what this really is.
This is the Lord. Having called a holy convocation,
a gathering of his people, his family. Together. And every blessing that he has
for us is in Christ. The message is Christ. What you
need tonight is Christ. And, and, and most of y'all know
that for me to, to preach, especially away from home is overwhelming
to me. And, but I was thinking as I
walked in here and saw your faces tonight, this is home to me now. And very much so. And I'm thankful.
To you for that, and I believe I get the feeling if I can just
say. By God's grace, say something good about the Lord Jesus Christ
and not even if I don't say it very well. I don't think you'll
be mad at me. I pray that that the Lord will
bless us. Let's look at Luke 18. Luke chapter
18. Verse. Verse 35. Luke 1835 and it came to pass
that as he. The Lord Jesus was come down
to Jericho. A certain blind man sat by the
wayside begging. It came to pass. We use language like, it just
so happened. This happened this day or that
day or once upon a time. That's not what this is. It came
to pass means that God ordained before the world began, that
something was gonna happen and then it did. That's what he's
saying. It's preordination. This tells
us that this event was purposed before by God from his throne
and then it came The time came. And it came to pass, it happened. And that's the way it is with
everything. But especially glorious in that is to see that with regard
to the saving of his people. The saving of God's elect by
Christ the Lord. In Acts 13, 48, it says, when
the Gentiles heard the gospel, they were glad and they glorified
the word of the Lord And as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed that gospel. Isn't that wonderful? That's
going to happen tonight. As many as were ordained to hear
the message of Christ and him crucified tonight are going to
hear it tonight. You're going to hear it. And if the Lord has
ordained that you believe it, you're going to believe it. I'm
glad it's not. The older I get, the happier
I am that nothing is up to me. Aren't you glad about that? It's
not up to you. Religion loves to say that. God's
done all he can do and now it's up to you. God hasn't done all he can do.
God's done all. Just put a period right there.
Included in the definition of the original language here of
it came to pass, you'll find the word finished. Our Lord's work on this earth
was not finished until he did everything he came to do. And
one of the things he came to do was give sight to Bartimaeus. Now he, our Lord Jesus Christ,
accomplished salvation at Calvary. He came to save. I love his name,
Jesus. The Lord called his name Jesus,
why? Because he was gonna save me. That's why, isn't that what
it said? For he shall save his people.
There is something about that name, isn't there? But at Calvary,
he accomplished salvation and then he said it's accomplished.
Before he gave up the ghost. But he also must cross paths
with everyone for whom he died on Calvary. He must, and he does,
and he shall. And so we see that word finish
there. He must need to go through Samaria,
John 4, 4. Why? Well, he met a woman there
at a well, and it says he stayed there two days, and many believed
on him there. We say sometimes he went there for that woman.
He went there for some other ones, too. Many believed on him
there, it says. And it doesn't just say in our
text that there was a blind man there, but it says there was
a certain blind man there. And that's important language
too. Everything about God saving his sheep is certain. Everything about it is certain.
It's ordered in all things, that covenant's ordered in all things
and sure. The Lord didn't just save blind
people, he saved certain blind people. He saved this blind man
and it was not a random event. And I think about the man at
the pool of Bethesda. Let me read some of that to you.
There was a pool in the Hebrew tongue called Bethesda, and it
had five porches around it. And in these lay a great multitude
of impotent folk of blind halt withered waiting for the moving
of the water for an angel went down at a certain season into
the pool and troubled the water. And whosoever then first after
the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever
disease he had. And a certain man was there.
There was a whole bunch of people there, but there was also a certain
man there, which had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lie, that's what he saw when he found
me today, just laying there. And knew that he had been now
a long time in that case, he said unto him, will thou be made
whole? And you know something, the man
didn't even say yes and he made him whole anyway. And Bartimaeus, look at what
the text says, he was begging. He was begging. He sat there begging. He sat
by the wayside begging. Always remember, That these stories
all of the lord's miracles in the scripture are spiritual pictures
of salvation Of his saving grace in christ. Jesus what he saved
us from and that it's his power. It's his word That saves the
lord. Jesus raised the dead in the
scriptures. Why because we by nature are
dead in trespasses and sins And only he can give life ephesians
2 1 He made the blind to see because except a man be born
again, he can't see the kingdom of God. And here he saved a beggar
because we are spiritually bankrupt before God. We owe an infinite
debt and we have nothing to pay, nothing. In Luke chapter seven,
you're familiar with the story when the Lord went to have supper
with a man named Simon. And there was a woman there,
all we know about her, she was a sinner, a great sinner. And
the Lord said to Simon, he told him a story about two debtors
whose debts came due, and one owed a little bit and the other
one owed a lot. Very simple. The truth of the gospel, very
simple, isn't it? One owed a little bit, one owed
a lot, and he said in Luke 7, 42, when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Now tell me, therefore,
which of them will love him most? And we're not gonna look at the
whole story in that, but the Lord, in applying that parable,
turned to that woman and said to her, your sins, which are
many, are forgiven you. But did you notice the language
there in what he said? When these debts came due, it
wasn't just they didn't have enough, that they, you know,
they could make it so far. They could take the first step,
you know, but the Lord, you're going to have to meet me halfway
here. I know I've got some, but no, they had nothing. They had
nothing to pay. And that's our spiritual condition
before God. And he's teaching us in these,
in these miracles that he performed. What our spiritual condition
before him is death, it's blindness, it's paralysis, it's incurable
leprosy, but it's also a debt, a debt. And we're not only unable
to pay, but we don't have anything to pay. And if by God's grace
we are forgiven, frankly forgiven, it's because Christ paid our
debt for it. Paid it in full at Calvary, satisfied
the law of God. with his precious blood. And
then we are frankly forgiven. That's how I need to be forgiven,
just flat out. No conditions. But not on my
part anyway. Not on my part. And this man
was begging men at first in the story. He sat by the wayside
begging. Who was he begging? Well, anybody
that would listen to it. Anybody that came within the
sound of his voice, he would cry out for some money, for some
help. But in the spiritual picture
here, if we're seeing the spiritual picture that the Lord has shown
us, and he's crying out to men, what can they do? What can they
do? Religion might address the symptoms
of his beggary by tossing him a coin with which he could maybe
pay his own way for a while. But salvation's not had by a
sinner paying his own way. And so the Son of God comes by.
And Bartimaeus cries, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy. We don't need something to pay
with. We need him to pay our way. Who is Bartimaeus begging now?
He's not talking to men anymore. He's crying out to the Son of
God. He's still begging. that he's begging somebody else
now. He's crying to the one who can do more than just toss him
a coin. He's crying out to the one now
that's able to eliminate the cause of him being a beggar in
the first place, which is our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ does
not teach a sinner how to do better. If our sins are debts,
and they are, they're pictured as debt, it's debt in the scripture.
And just imagine for a second that you could do something good
maybe to pay some of that back. How long is it going to take
you to pay for mocking, torturing, and murdering God's son? How
long is that going to take? Not going to happen, is it? Our
debt to God's justice is infinite. And the truth is that even what
you think is a payment on that debt is really just you incurring
more debt because even your righteousnesses, according to God, are as filthy
rags in his sight. You're just getting deeper and
deeper in debt. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
had to die for your worship tonight. Didn't he? He had to shed his
precious blood to pay for my preaching tonight. We're full
of sin in everything that we do and everything that we are,
from the top of our head to the soles of our feet. There's not
any soundness in us. Salvation is Christ and it's
all Christ. No, what the Lord must do is
eliminate our debt and the cause of our debt. He not only got
to pay for my debt, he got to make me righteous. He's gotta do everything that
I cannot, and he's gotta pay for what I did do. He had to pay it in full, and
we know the cost now. We know the cost. We weren't
redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ, and he put away our sin by the
sacrifice of himself. The only hope for any sinner,
for every sinner in this place tonight, That's everybody here,
is Christ and his precious blood. We must be justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And to
redeem us, he had to bear our iniquities and suffer the wrath
of God in our place. And so if he ever passes by you
in the preaching of the gospel, here's what you do in your heart.
Listen to the next verse, verse 36, look at it. and hearing the
multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. He asked what it meant. Think about this now. It says
he heard the multitude, but why was there a multitude there?
Why was there a multitude there? What he was hearing was the commotion
that surrounded the Lord Jesus Christ. He was hearing that Christ was there. And everybody
else that was around there was there because Christ was there. And everywhere the Lord goes,
like here for example tonight, there's a group of people making
some noise. And you know why we're doing
it? Because of Him. Because of Him, who He is and
what He's done. That's why those people were
there. And Barnabas said, what's this all about? Why are these
people all gathered together in this place, and what are they
talking about? This is a picture of the church,
which is simply a gathering of people because of him. Wanting
to be with him. Is that why you're here tonight? Wanting to be with him. We talk
about what this is, what's happening tonight. The Lord Jesus Christ
is here in our midst tonight. That's what's happening. And we just want to be with him.
We're talking about him. We're following him. That's what
they were doing. And Bartimaeus says, what's that all about?
Maybe some of you are here tonight asking that question. What in
the world do these people do? That's what it is. We just want
to be around him. Some have come here not really
knowing maybe tonight what it's all about. And before you know
it, though, you might just be one of the multitude. That's
what happened to Bartimaeus. This church here is part of a
multitude which no man can number who Christ has redeemed with
his precious blood. And in this verse here, Bartimaeus
is saying, what's this multitude? What's all this noise? What are
they up to? And in verse 43 though, look at verse 43. And immediately he received his
sack and followed him, glorifying God. Now he's one of the ones
making noise. He's one of the crowd that he
was asking about a little while ago. That might just be your
case. And we'll glorify him with you
if he's pleased to make it happen. And they told him, didn't they?
What's the multitude about? Look at verse 37. They told him
that. What'd they tell him? Jesus. Jesus He shall save his people from
their sins of Nazareth Is passing by that's what it's about That's
it The first lesson of this verse is That all of it was about one
thing somebody the whole commotion It was about somebody in the
second lesson in this verse is that this somebody is passing
by. There's an urgency to this, isn't there? He's passing by.
The gospel has an urgency inherent in it. You don't have to threaten
people and bribe people and be a cheerleader and all that. Just
preach the truth. There's an urgency in the simple
message that Christ is passing by. The one who can not only help
with the symptoms of your problem tonight, he's the solution. He's
the remedy to your problem. And you just really have one
problem. You think, well, Chris, you don't know me very well.
I got lots of, no, you just got one problem. You just got one. I'm sure Naaman had a lot on
his plate until he became a leper, and then he just had one problem,
didn't he? You can talk about different
aspects of it now. Is sin your problem? Yes. Christ Jesus has made an end
of sins, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in
everlasting righteousness, Daniel 9, 24. Are you interested in
that? He's passing by. Is the law of
God your problem? Yeah, it is. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes on him. Romans
10, four, he's passing by. He's passing by tonight. Just
as sure as you're sitting there. Is your problem your inability
to do anything about your problem? Yeah. He's passing by. You see, you can't come to him,
but he may just come to you. If he does, you'll come to him.
Don't keep trying to do something for God. Find out if he'll do
something for you. He's passing by. And that's why
Bartimaeus was so urgent about this. He cried, the next verse
38, he cried saying, Jesus, thou son of David, the first word
in their answer to his question was him, and the first word out
of his mouth was him. You son of David have mercy on
me. And they which went before rebuked
him that he should hold his peace. People are begging sinners to
do something for God and Real sinners are begging God to do
something for them He cried so much the more He cried so much the more if
you ever find out who he is I Thou son of David, have mercy
on me. You're not ever gonna shut up
a sinner that finds out who he is. You can't shut him up. You try to shut Donnie up, he
ain't gonna shut up. Todd's not going to, Greg, they're
not gonna shut up. And you're not either if you
know him. whoever these ones are that went before, not only
were they unwilling and unable to do what needed to be done,
they didn't even want to be bothered about it. But Bartimaeus is not
talking to them anymore. He's not bothering with men anymore. He's not begging men now. He's
doing business with God's Son now. That's where you've got
to be. You've got to do business with
the Son of God. Some sinners in this thing of
salvation, in the vital matter that presses upon you as you
see Bartimaeus' urgency here. Some sinners will discourage
you in that, like these ones did here. And some, perhaps,
are praying for you and would give their very heart to see
you come to Christ. And that's good. But sooner or
later, you, yourself, are gonna have to do business with God's
Son. You notice what he said, Jesus,
thou son of David, you have mercy on me. It's him and me. God's king, have mercy on me,
the Messiah, the son of David. Salvation in its accomplishment,
in the finished work of salvation is between the father and the
son. You didn't have anything to do with it. But if Christ
accomplished salvation for you on Calvary, he either has or
will accomplish salvation in you in time. And that's something that I can
tell you about if God is pleased to use me for that. But you're
gonna have to do business with me. Listen, who's gonna do this? Who is it that's gonna do this?
Jesus, the son of David. Listen to Matthew 22, 41. While
the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they say
unto him, the son of David. Who is that? Who's Bartimaeus
talking about? Who is the son of David? He saith
unto them, the Lord says to those Pharisees, how then doth David
in spirit Call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? Can you answer
that question? God Almighty was born of a virgin,
made under the law, that he might redeem them that are under the
law. Nobody was able to answer him a word. And they didn't dare
ask him any more questions. But who's gonna do that? Jesus,
the Lord of glory. The one David called Lord is
gonna do this. And what is needed? What does
Bartimaeus need? Mercy. Mercy. You don't need a chance. You
don't need a chance. You don't need an opportunity.
You don't need to decide anything. It's way beyond that. You need
mercy. And there's only one that can
give it. And he's passing by. The only one that can give mercy
is the one who is offended. The one whom you've sinned against.
David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done
all this evil in your sight. And only he can forgive. And
he's the Lord. David called him Lord. And you
know what the Lord said about mercy? He said, I'll have mercy
on whoever I want to have mercy on. You see what Bartimaeus was
begging now? Instead of coming and saying,
Lord, I've decided to do something for you. I can't think of a quicker way
to hell, can you, than to come to the Lord God and say, I've
made a decision for you. No. And who needs this? Who is it
that needs it? Me. Have mercy on me. Even that
woman of Canaan, when it was her daughter that was vexed with
the devil, she said, have mercy on me, my daughter. Mercy on
me, I'm the sinner, the publican in Luke 18, 13. In the same context
of our text tonight, said God be merciful to me, the sinner. In verse 40, and Jesus stood
and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come
near, he asked him saying, what wilt
thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight. In Mark's account of this, it
says in Mark 10, 49, and 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 for thee. In Joshua 10,
verse 12, Joshua spoke to the Lord. The Israelites were at
war. And he said to the Lord, when
the Lord delivered, in the day when the Lord delivered the Amorites
before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of
Ajalon, and the sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the
people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. is not this
written in the book of gestures so the sun stood still in the
midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day
and listen to what it said that Joshua prayed to the Lord that
the sun would stand still. And it did, the Lord commanded
it, and it did for about a day. And listen, it says in the text,
it hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no
day like that before it or after it. It sounds like whoever's
writing this is kind of excited about that. The Lord hearkened
under the voice of a man. Can you believe that? God Almighty
listened to the voice of a man. And you know why he did it? The
next phrase is this, for the Lord fought for Israel. He was
on their side. I've heard people argue about,
are we on the Lord's side or is he on our side? It better
be both. It better be both. To assure
victory for his elect, God made the sun stand still. that day
in Joshua chapter 10, and in our text this evening, the son,
S-O-N, stood still. Why? The same reason. The salvation
of his elect. Victory for his people. Why did
Joshua need for the son to stand still? They're in a battle here. Why do we need the son? So we
can see what we're doing. So we can see. Why did the sun stand still in
Luke 18? So somebody could see. In Joshua chapter 10, it was
a great miracle that God would physically interrupt the course
of nature and hold the sun in place for a whole day. It expresses
that there. What a marvel it is that God
would hearken unto the voice of a man. In Luke 18, what a
miracle of God's love and grace that God the sun would hearken
unto the voice of a wretched sinner and stop and command him
to be brought near. What a miracle. Does that amaze
you? Would it amaze you more if the
sun stopped in the sky for a day and just stood in the same place
for 20, but would that amaze you more? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, shall be saved. Is that amazing? What wilt thou that I shall do
unto thee, Lord, that I might receive my sight? What a beautiful spiritual picture. What is the one thing that you
desire. Here is somebody that can do
anything. Remember what Job said when the
Lord healed him? He had spent all that time on
the ash heap for God to teach him two things. I know that you
can do anything. And that when you do, nobody
can stop you. Here's somebody that can do anything.
And nobody can stop him. And he's saying, what do you
want me to do for you? Here's what David said in Psalm
27, for one thing have I desired of the Lord. One thing. And that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life. Why do you want to do that,
David? That I might see to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple. Now you think about that, to
behold his beauty, and what's the last part of that really
saying, to inquire in his temple? I wanna behold his beauty, and
I wanna find out more about how beautiful he is. The first thing that Bartimaeus
ever saw was the face of God's son. And the first thing you'll ever
see spiritually, you're not gonna be the preacher. You're gonna
see the Son of God for God, and here's why. God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. In the beginning, he said, let
there be light, and there was light. That God, Paul said, did
that in my heart. He spoke in power. and said,
let there be light, and there was. And you know what I saw?
He shined in my heart to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God. I saw God's glory. What does
that look like? The face of Jesus Christ. And Jesus said unto him, receive
thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. Can faith save a sinner? It depends on where he got it
from, doesn't it? For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
go. If God gives you faith in his son to see Christ as all
your righteousness, all of it, and to see him as your sin offering,
The only offering God will accept for your sin, a satisfactory
payment for your sin debt. He gives you faith to see his
son like that, to see him as salvation accomplished for you.
It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. That faith will save you. That one will. Because salvation's
of the Lord. And he gives that faith to sinners. I don't believe the word hath
in the text is significant. Thy faith hath saved thee. You
know, because before Bartimaeus ever saw physically, he saw something
spiritually, didn't he? He knew that that man can have
mercy on me if he wants to, didn't he? Before the Lord ever opened
his eyes physically, he'd already opened his heart to cry unto
him. He knew Christ could have mercy
on him if he wanted to, and likewise, if you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ this night for salvation, he done saved you. You wouldn't have come if he
hadn't. Verse 43, and immediately he received his sight and followed
him, glorifying God, and all the people when they saw it gave
praise unto God. Whenever God saves somebody,
he gets all the glory, And everybody that knows him likes it that
way. When religion goes through all
their rituals and gets somebody saved and sinners of glory in
themselves, that's not what happened here. And Mark, listen to Mark's version
again, Mark 10, 52. And Jesus said unto him, go your
way. Your faith hath made you whole.
Now the Lord didn't hand him a copy of the law and say, you
know, now you go, you know, do what you're supposed to do. You
go follow the straight and narrow, you know. He said, go your way,
go live your life. Do what you want. And immediately
he received his sight and followed Jesus. In the way. That's how that happens. What did Bartimaeus want? He
wanted to be with Christ. Now he's part of the multitude.
That's how it is with us. We're free from the law, but
what does freedom mean? That we continue in sin, that
grace may abound? God forbid. Freedom is Him. Freedom is seeing Him, knowing
Him, following Him by God's grace. That's our way. Go your way. Christ is the way. And by his
grace, he's our way. Amen. God bless you. So glad you were here tonight. Thank you, Chris. This whole book is about salvation
of sinners, glorification of Christ. In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the Earth. And the Earth was without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep of it. That's
us. We're without form. We're void. Nothing but darkness and blindness.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water. Scripture
is called the water, the water of God's Word. The Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the water. And God said, let there
be light. And there was light. That's right,
Genesis 1, 2, and 3. That's the gospel, isn't it?
That's what we just heard. What a blessing. We have typically
had two messages on Friday night, but I know A lot of y'all traveled
today. Everybody worked today. So I
thought we would just have one message tonight. Come back fresh
in the morning. Todd and Donnie will preach both
in the morning and then again on Sunday morning we'll have
lunch after the service tomorrow. So. Enjoy the fellowship tonight
and be prepared tomorrow morning to hear from the Lord. So let's
stand together. Tom's going to close us out in
a hymn, number 168, in your hardbacked hymnal, number 168. ? Lord, I hear of showers of blessing
? ? Thou art scattering full and free ? ? Showers the thirsty
land refreshing ? ? Let some drops now fall on me ? ? Even
me, even me ? ? Let Thy blessing fall on me ? Pass me not, O tender
Savior, let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy
favor, whilst Thou art calling, O call me, even me. Even me, let thy blessing fall
on me. ? Pass me not, O mighty Spirit
? ? Thou canst make the blind to see ? ? Witnesser of Jesus'
merit ? ? Speak the word of power to me ? ? Even me, even me ?
? Let thy blessing fall on me ? Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all on me, even me. Even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not thy lost one bringing,
bind my heart, O Lord, to thee. While the streams of life are
springing, blessing others, O bless me, even me. Even me, let thy blessing fall
on me. Thank you.