You don't have to turn in your
Bibles, let me just read this to open the service with, strengthen
ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them
that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Behold,
your God will come with vengeance. Even God with a recompense, he
will come and save you. Now Isaiah is speaking of that
vengeance of God that fell from heaven. on the Lord Jesus Christ
to accomplish the salvation of His people. Then, then the eyes
of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall
be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness
shall waters break out and streams in the desert. Scripture refers to this world
as a dry and thirsty land. God has provided in this desert
an oasis where the water of life flows freely to all them that
are thirsty. Come, come and drink freely. Tom's going to come lead us in
number 38 in your spiral hymnal. Let's stand together. Come, every sinner saved by grace,
you who by faith God's Son embraced. Tell all who hear your voice
below the debt of love to Christ you owe. Dear Lord, I lift my
praise to Thee. All that I am, or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. He left his father's throne above
and came to earth on wings of love. For us he lived the perfect
man and so fulfilled the law's demand. ? Dear Lord, I lift my
praise to Thee ? All that I am or hope to be ? I owe alone,
O Christ, to Thee ? Jesus endured His Father's ire ? And died at
the appointed hour ? What He endured, no tongue can tell ?
To save our souls death and hell. Dear Lord, I lift my praise to
Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. From death's dark grave our King
arose, And triumphed over all our foes. Up through the skies
the victor rode, And reigns on high our Savior God. Dear Lord, I lift my praise to
Thee. All that I am, or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. From heaven Christ will quickly
come and bring his ransomed people home. There we shall see his
lovely face and chant the praises of his grace. Dear Lord, I lift
my praise to Thee. All that I am or hope to be,
I owe alone, O Christ, to Thee. Please be seated. Good morning. Would you please
turn to Romans chapter 8? And we will start in verse 28
and read through 39, the rest of the chapter. Romans 8, verse
28. And this is so comforting to
me. I just love not only reading
chapter 8, but chapter 7, I mean, is just a perfect illustration
of what a sinner really is. And chapter 8 follows up about
that good news in Jesus Christ. the true Savior and what he did
for us and God's purpose. And this is just a blessing to
me and I hope it is for you as well. And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
thee called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And to whom he
called, them he also justified. And to whom he justified, them
he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things if God be for us? Who can be against us? He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are
counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present or things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let's
pray. Heavenly Father Lord, I do not
have the words to articulate your love, your. Purpose. Your grace. We're here because
of your grace, Lord. We've drawn your people to hear
your word and your gospel churches today in this moment. Pray that
you would be pleased to reveal our sin to us. Our need for a
savior. Pray that. He would be lifted
up, that Savior, Jesus Christ. Right now, Lord. In your name
we pray, amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Compared with Christ in all beside,
no comeliness I see. The one thing needful, dearest
Lord, is to be one with Thee. The sense of Thy expiring love
into my soul convey. Thyself bestow, for Thee alone
I absolutely pray. Less than thyself will not suffice
my comfort to restore. More than thyself I cannot pray,
and thou canst give no more. Loved of my God, for Him again,
with love intense I burn. Chosen of Thee, ere time began,
I choose Thee in return. What e'er consists not with thy
love, O teach me to resign. I'm rich, topped all the intents
of bliss, if thou, O God, art mine. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me again to Mark chapter 10, please. Mark chapter 10. Bartimaeus, the son of an unclean
one, who lived in a cursed city by the name of Jericho and was
blind, was reduced to begging. What a picture of the gospel.
What a picture of every believer's experience. I've titled this message from
the rest of this story, From a Highway to The Way. From a Highway to The Way. Before we begin, I want us to
have a prayer for Abigail. She had to leave. You know she
had surgery recently and the pathology report has come back
from the tumor and it was benign. So we're very thankful for that.
But Bobby and Caleb had to leave between services to take her
home. So let's pause a moment and pray for her. our merciful
Heavenly Father, we're so very thankful that we can come before
Thy throne of grace and make our petitions and our supplications
and know, Lord, that you have a hearing ear to the cries of
Thy children. Lord, we pray for Abigail and
we ask for your hand of strength and healing to be upon her and
to give her full recovery. Pray for her mom and dad and
ask, Lord, that you would bless them with your grace and with
your hope and with your peace. We pray it in Christ's name.
Amen. Notice in verse 46 that Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the wayside. And then notice in verse
52, and immediately He received his sight and followed
Jesus in the way. Now this is every believer's
experience. Not only does every child of
God come by the grace of God to see that they live in Jericho,
a cursed city. Not only does every child of
God by the grace of God come to see that they are the son
and daughter of an unclean one. They're defiled. They have no
righteousness of their own. Not only does every child of
God come to see that they are spiritually blind and in need
of the Lord to give them eyes to see, every child of God is
reduced by the grace of God to becoming a mercy beggar. Lord,
if you don't save me, I won't be saved. I've got nothing to
obligate you in any way to have mercy upon me. But every child of God is saved
from a highway side. That's the picture here, a well-traveled
highway. The Lord said in Matthew chapter
7 verse 13, wide is the gate and broad is the way. that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go therein." The whole world is on a highway
to destruction. And if the Lord Jesus Christ
doesn't give us grace to cry for mercy, if He doesn't stand
still and call us to Himself, we will stay on that highway
to destruction and not know where it leads. What our children say when they
want to do something that's not good for them? Everybody's doing
it. Everybody's doing it. And the
wise parent says, yeah, and that's exactly why you're not going
to be doing it. And yet, we never do really get over the need to
conform to the masses, do we? Now, sometimes following the
crowd might be a good thing. You're in a strange place. And
you're looking for a place to eat lunch and you see one restaurant
with one car in the parking lot and another one with a hundred,
you might want to eat at the one with a hundred cars. But
when it comes to the gospel, when it comes to the gospel,
the masses of humanity, I promise you, God says it, are on the
wrong road. They do not know. They cannot
see. They're lost. I see that zombie movies are
very popular today. You know, that's what people
are like. They're spiritual zombies. They're just following in a mass. The problem with zombies is that
they're dead and they don't know it. They don't know it. And that's spiritually, that's
a picture of where the entire world in which you and I live
are. The whole world is wrong. Another place this word highway
is used in the scriptures is on the parable of the soils,
you remember? The sower of the seed is casting
the seed of the gospel out and some of the seed falls on the
wayside and it never even has a chance to germinate. It sits
there on the hard ground until the birds come down and pluck
it away. That's where the world is. Romans chapter three says that
we have all gone out of the way The way of peace they do not
know. There is a way that seems right
unto man, but the end of that way is destruction. The way that seems right unto
man is that he could bring something, something to the table of salvation
that would give him some standing before God. Either he could make
a decision or pray a prayer or do a work, something I can bring. That's the way that seems right.
unto man and God says the way that way leads to destruction. Now that's the highway that's
the highway that we're all on by nature and unless the Lord
Jesus Christ stops as he did here for Bartimaeus look what
he says And verse 47, and when he heard that it was Jesus of
Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal,
thou son of David have mercy upon me. And Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be called. Oh, there's so much of the gospel
in those few verses right there. so much of the gospel. If the
Lord Jesus Christ doesn't put it in our hearts to see him as
the son of David, if he doesn't put it in our hearts to cry out
for mercy, if he doesn't stand still and command us to be called
unto himself, we will, like the rest of this world, remain on
that highway to destruction. He's the only one that can take
us off of it. And when he does, he will do
for us what he did for Bartimaeus. And immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus in the way. In the way. Now the first time the way is
used in the Bible is found in Genesis chapter 3 when God put
Adam and Eve out of the garden and he set a cherubim with a
flaming sword at the gate of the garden to guard the way of
the tree of life. Now that tree of life is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same tree that we find
in the book of Revelation, planted by the rivers of life, producing
its fruit in due season, and the leaves of which are for the
healings of the nation. Christ is pictured as that tree.
and the cherubim with a flaming sword is still protecting the
tree of life. Just like when Abram was commanded
of God to take those sacrifices and divide them in half and then
the birds came and began to peck on them. What was Abram's responsibility? To keep, protect. Those sacrifices
were Christ. His responsibility was to protect
the sacrifice, the tree of life. God protects the tree of life
nothing's going to nothing's gonna hurt that tree nothing's
gonna eat from that tree unless the Lord enables us that's the way now look what
Paul says in Acts chapter 24 will you turn with me there Acts
chapter 24 Paul has been accused by the Jews of being a rebel rouser. And Paul makes his defense to
Felix and in chapter 24 at verse 5 here's their accusation. We
have found this man a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition
among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of
the sect of the Nazarenes. He belongs to a cult. See, that's
the same accusations. They haven't changed. The masses
are intimidated by those who step out of rank. And just like
they tried to shut up Bartimaeus and get him to stop, they continue
to do that. And that's exactly what they
were doing for the Apostle Paul. And look at verse 14. Now here's Paul's defense, and
this I confess unto thee. He's speaking unto Felix, defending
himself against these false accusations. This I confess unto thee, that
after the way, which they call heresy, so I worship the God
of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the
law and the prophets. They want to accuse me of following
after the sect of the Nazarene, I'll accept that. What they call heresy, now the
word heresy in the scripture is the same word translated choice
or opinion. And any choice or opinion that
you and I come up with that's inconsistent with the revealed
truth of God's Word is heresy. It's heresy. And what they were
saying was that he's committing heresy. In fact, they were the
ones who were committing heresy. They had their choices and opinions
that were inconsistent with the revealed truth of the Gospel
and God's Word. And Paul said, No, I bowed to what's revealed
in scripture about Christ. They want to call it a heresy.
That's the God that I worship. And He is the way. The way. You see, every single person
in this room and in this world is either on the highway or in
the way. There's no in between. You're
on the highway with everybody else or you're in the way following
after the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to John chapter
14. There's no middle ground. There's
no part way. You're either on the highway
or you're in the way. Look what the Lord Jesus Christ
says about himself in John chapter 14. When he begins by saying to his
disciples, let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God.
Believe also in me, for in my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go and prepare a
place for you. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
ascended back into glory, he ascended as the living word of
God, and God said, My word will not return unto me void. It will
accomplish the purpose for which I sent it. The Lord Jesus Christ
took the names of those for whom he lived and died and presented
them to his Father, and he ever lives to make intercession for
his church. And that's what he's saying.
I'm going to go and prepare a place for you. I'm gonna be your righteous
advocate with the Father and He's gonna be pleased with my
intercession on your part. And whether I go, you know. And the way, you know. You know where I'm going and
you know how to get there. And Thomas said unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
We don't know where you're going, and we don't know how to get
there. And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. I'm not going to show you the
way. I'm not going to teach you the way. You look to me. You
look to me. You follow after me. You look
to who I am and what I've done for you. And you'll be in the
way, not on the highway. Jesus said unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Now the Lord Jesus Christ commanded
Bartimaeus to be called unto him. And that's the only way
you and I are going to come. That effectual, irresistible
call of grace, where God says, you follow me, follow me. Verse seven, if you had known
me, you should have known my father also from henceforth,
you know him and have seen him. And Philip said unto him, show
us the father and it sufficeth us. Whatever feelings of humanity
that the Lord may have had, I'm sure that he'd been with these
disciples for three years. This is what he's been telling
them. I am God. And now they're saying, we want
to see the Father, then we'll be satisfied. And Jesus said unto him, Have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. How sayest thou, show us the
Father? Believest not that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you
I speak not of myself, but the Father dwelleth in me. He doeth
the works. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me. or else believe me for the very
work's sake. What is the work that the Lord
Jesus Christ came to accomplish? Believe me for thy work's sake.
I must do the work of my father. What was the work that the father
sent him to do? Successful redemption. the sacrifice
of himself on Calvary's cross, satisfying the demands of God's
law and putting away the sins of his people so that he could
fit the description of Isaiah 42 verse 6 and 7, who was so
blind as my servant. That's his work. Believe me for
my work's sake. And his words haven't changed.
He's still saying that to you and me. Believe me for my work's
sake. Bartimaeus, I am the way. Bartimaeus understood
that the Lord Jesus Christ was the way and being happy to be
taken off of the highway, he followed after him, didn't he?
God saves all of his people off of the highway of destruction. Scripture speaks of a Ethiopian
who happened to be a eunuch who was the treasurer of Candace,
the queen of Ethiopia, and he had come to Jerusalem looking
for God. And he had acquired while he was in Jerusalem a copy
of Isaiah, at least. Being a wealthy man, he would
have been able to do that. And now he's traveling back reading
the book of Isaiah, never having known anything about God. and
God sent a preacher by the name of Philip to meet him on the
way, the highway to Gaza. That's what the scripture says.
The highway that went from Jerusalem down to Gaza and the Ethiopian
eunuch is following on that highway, reading the scripture but not
having any idea what he's reading. And Philip comes alongside and
says, understand this what thou readest and what the eunuch say.
Now, most men in his position, I'm sure Philip looks like some
sort of Bedouin, maybe just, you know, here is this plain
clothed preacher coming up to me, here I am, the second income,
I've got the queen's treasury. I'm somebody, I'm riding in a
chariot. Can't you see all these servants
around me? Of course I know what I'm reading. That's what most
folks, when you try to talk to them about the gospel, of course
I know what I'm, I know what I believe, I know what the Bible
says. and they don't have a clue why? Because they're like Bartimaeus,
they're blind. But God had given this eunuch
grace to say, how can I unless a man should guide me? I need
a preacher to tell me what God says. And he got into the, and
the Ethiopian said, Does the prophet speak of himself or does
he speak of another? He's reading Isaiah 53 and beginning
in that passage, Philip preached unto him Jesus. Oh, what doth
hinder me to be baptized? God's taken me off of the highway
that goes down to Gaza and he's put me in the way. And the first
desire that God puts in the heart of those he takes off the highway
and puts in the way, is to follow after Christ, and following after
Christ, their desire is to confess Him in public baptism. What doth him to me to be baptized?
If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And what
did that Ethiopian say? I believe that that Jesus that
you just preached to me is the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Oh, I believe that. And he baptized
Him right there. God saves his people off the
highway and puts them in the way. Same thing happened to Saul
of Tarsus, didn't he? He was an enemy of the gospel,
an enemy of God, an enemy of the church, breathing out threatenings
and seeking to arrest believers and take them to prison and have
them sentenced to death. And God arrested him. while he
was on the highway, on the highway, going down to Damascus. God stopped
him in his tracks, didn't he? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. What would you have me to do?
What would you have me to do? Saul had to be made blind before
he could be made to see and so it is with every one of us. God
has to arrest us while we're on this highway of destruction,
stop us in our tracks, speak to us. I was talking to a dear
brother just the other day in another city and he was telling
me about his conversion a year ago. He said, I've been listening
to the gospel, been listening to your preaching and And I was driving home from work
one day. He said, I don't even really think I was thinking about
God, but God just arrested me in my truck. He just stopped
me in my tracks and said, I'm going to speak
to you today. What a blessing. Luke chapter 10, I mentioned
this earlier about the man who was on the highway between Jerusalem
and Jericho who fell among thieves and was robbed and left for dead
in the ditch of the highway. And the priest came by and went
on the other side of the road, couldn't help him. Why? Because
religious ceremonies cannot save a lost person. And then a Levi
came by and got on the other side of the road and passed by.
Why did he pass by? Because the law cannot save you.
And then came a Samaritan. Who is that Samaritan? You know,
the world sees that story as you be a good Samaritan and we
ought to do what we can to help folks out. But that story is
a gospel. That person in the ditch, that's
me. The law can't help me. The priest
can't help me. I need the Lord Jesus Christ
to come and bandage my wounds and to take me to the end. That's
the church. And to say to the innkeeper,
you provide for him, you take care of him and whatever you
need beyond what I provided for, I'll give you when I come back
through. What a picture. The Lord Jesus Christ takes dead
sinners off of the highway and he puts them in the way. That's the story here. Bartimaeus,
a blind beggar from Jericho, a man unclean, the Lord calls
him off the highway. It's what he said to Daniel when
the Lord spoke to Nebuchadnezzar and put the handwriting on the
wall. Belshazzar, I'm sorry. Daniel came and interpreted the
writing. What'd he say? Your kingdom has ended. You've
been weighed in the balance and you've been found wanting. Now
I'm gonna divide your kingdom. And that's what the Lord says
to every one of his children when he takes them off the highway.
Your kingdom's ended. You've been weighed in the balance
and you've been while wanting, and now I'm gonna give you two
natures. But you're going to be mine.
Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus of Nazareth. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the Word of God. That's why you're here,
isn't it? That's why we come. That's why
we listen. That's why we read God's Word. Because the only
hope that we have of hearing the voice of God is by the Word
of God. Now I want to say this clearly. I have a dear friend who had
serious surgery. And he told me the other day,
he said, before my surgery I was looking through a magazine, I
was anxious and I was thinking, you know, this might not go well.
And I saw a picture, a cute picture of a penguin in the magazine. I thought that was cute and it
gave me a smile. And then I got out of surgery.
And I went into the recovery room and on the wall in my recovery
room was exactly the same picture of that cute little penguin. And that experience convinces
me that God's on my side and he heard my prayer. Devil can
give you that experience. The devil can give you experiences
like that. God calls him one of lying wonders
and miracles. Yeah, it was an odd picture.
I saw the picture. Boy, that's strange. But here
this dear man is taking comfort in the picture of a penguin because
that convinces him that God's graced him and that God's on
his side and that everything's good with God. That's one illustration
that just happened to me a few days ago, but I see that happen
all the time. We were in Australia and a man
saw the face of Jesus in the clouds and he thought, you know,
that God's on my side. There's a picture. Don't trust those experiences
as a revelation from God. They can be deceiving. But I'll
tell you one thing you can trust. You can trust the Word of God. What God says is true. Believe me for my work's sake. This book reveals the truth about
who Christ is and about what he's accomplished for sinners.
And if your faith is founded in the Word of God, not in some
subjective experience that can be duplicated by an evil spirit,
then you've got hope of knowing. I believe what God says. Bartimaeus had heard of Jesus
of Nazareth. He had heard about this one whose
name was Jehovah Saves and he was the true Nazarite. And not
only that, he was the son of David. When the Jews talked about the
son of David, that referred to one thing, the Christ, the Messiah,
the Savior, the one who was going to come in the full power of
God to accomplish the purpose of saving all Israel. all by
himself. And that's what Bartimaeus believed. And he cried out. And he confessed. He confessed that Jesus was the
Christ. Just like Saul of Tarsus did. Just like the Ethiopian eunuch
did. Just like every person has ever
done that God's taken off of the highway and put in the way,
they confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Oh, what hope Bartimaeus has.
Look at verse 40, 49. Here's your hope. Here's my hope. When God puts it in your heart
to cry for mercy, when God puts it in your heart to see that
you live in Jericho, when God puts it in your heart to cause
you to understand that you're blind, and when God makes you
to be a beggar, and when God puts it in your heart to know
who Christ is, you can be sure that He's going to stand still. Does He put that in your heart
in order to save you? And he stood still and he commanded. That's what the Lord came to
do to seek and to save that which was lost. Don't you love that
story of Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the only surviving
heir to the throne from King Saul. And David says, is there
anyone left? from the household of Saul that
I might show mercy towards him for Jonathan's sake. Now, Jonathan
there is a picture of Christ. David's gonna show mercy. And
Mephibosheth's hiding in Lodabar, that's a highway. That's the
place of no bread. That's where Mephibosheth was.
And that's all that's out there in the world is there's no bread.
There's no bread. They're eating the husk that
the swine do eat. And he says, go fetch him. Fetching grace, he brings Mephibosheth
to David and all the way. Mephibosheth's a cripple boy.
He had broke both his legs in a fall and he wasn't able to
stand. He wasn't able to walk. They
had to carry him all the way back to David. Mephibosheth,
well, you see, you and I are crippled, aren't we? In a fall,
in a fall, and we're hiding out in Lodabar, and God sends his
servant to come fetch us and brings Mephibosheth to David.
Mephibosheth all along thought, this is it, I'm the last surviving
heir of Saul, I'm the only threat to the throne of King David,
he's gonna kill me. And when David looked at Mephibosheth,
he said, oh, Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth. He saw the likeness of his son,
didn't he? Of his father, his friend whom
he loved. You sit here at my table. I'm
gonna feed you with the King's bread all the rest of the days
of your life and you're gonna hide those crippled legs underneath
my tablecloth. I'm gonna take care of you."
He took him off the highway, didn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ
stood still and he commanded him. Mephibosheth didn't have
a choice about coming. He was commanded to come. The
King's calling you. When God commands a sinner to
come. This idea that the gospel is
an offer? It's an offer? God wants to save
everybody but he can't overpower your will? Who does that put
on the throne of God? God has abdicated his throne
to sinners? He's not able to convince us? He's not able to convert us,
as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Believed. Now that's pretty clear, isn't
it? All that God chose in the covenant of grace, when the Lord
Jesus Christ makes us to be like Bartimaeus, He stands still and
He commands us to come unto Him. Well, don't. The gospel is not an invitation.
It's a command. Creation commands men to come
to God. Conscience commands men to come
to God. But neither creation nor conscience
can convert the soul and make them able to come to God Men
are without excuse because they've not believed what creation or
conscience has said. But it's not until the Spirit
of God makes us willing in the day of His power that we're able
to come. Now, you know what a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus
from Jericho says right now? Oh, Lord, stand still. bid me to come unto thee." Isn't
that what Peter said? Lord, bid me to come unto thee.
I would not presume to come unto you, but Lord, make me to come.
Turn me and I shall be turned. Cause me, Lord, to believe. And we never get beyond that,
do we? Now the religionists will say, well, I've done that. The
child of God saying, oh, to whom coming? To whom coming? I've got to keep coming. Notice what Bartimaeus did when
the Lord stood still and commanded him to be called. Don't miss
the fact that all the folks that were on the highway were trying
to shut Bartimaeus up. And they're going to do the same
to you. They're going to do the same to me. You see, you coming
to Christ is a threat to the highway that they're on. You
getting in the way is a threat to them being on the highway.
And God's going to allow them to try you. He's going to allow
them to throw jeers at you and to persecute you if need be.
This brother I was telling you about that said the Lord arrested
him in his truck a year ago. He says, it's been a year now.
He said, I've lost a lot of friends over this. But then he said, haven't lost
any sleep over the fact that I've lost friends. You listen to the crowd on the
highway. You let them intimidate you. You'll never find yourself
in the way. Notice what Bartimaeus does. Be of good comfort. That's what
they said. Arise, and there is comfort. Adam, you read that passage from
Isaiah chapter 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem. Tell them their warfare is accomplished.
Their iniquities purged, they've received of the Lord double for
their sin. What a comfort! He's done it
all. He calleth thee. He calleth thee. Lord, call me. Keep calling me. In verse 50, and He casting away
his garment. How do I know if God's called
me? I believe that Jesus is the son of David. I believe I'm blind. I know I live in Jericho. I know I was born. My father's
name was Timaeus and my name is Bartimaeus. I've been reduced to begging
from God for everything. and I have no righteousness whatsoever
of my own. None whatsoever. You're not going
to come to Christ without leaving that dirty outer garment, holy,
smelly, you can imagine, you've seen the way beggars dress, you've
seen the condition they're in. Well, think about it back then.
Holy, smelly garment, that's all he had. But he wasn't going
to come to Christ with that. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags before God. You're not going to come to Christ
until the Lord enables you to get rid of all the hope of your
salvation based on anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Forsaking your righteousness,
leaving it in the gutter where it belongs, seeing it for what
it is, and having the Lord robe you in the righteousness of Christ. What wilt thou have that I should
do for you? Now, the Lord doesn't ask questions
because he doesn't know the answers, but he asks questions to force
us to see our need. What would you have me do for
you? Bartimaeus in his response is
saying, Lord, that I might be saved. That I might receive my
sight. I need to be able to see. This
is a spiritual story. And the Lord says to you and
me, what would you have me do for you? And the Bartimaeuses from Jericho
say, Lord, save me. Save me. Be my righteousness. Put my sin under your blood. Be all my salvation." And the Lord said, Thy faith.
Thy faith. Where did that faith come from?
Where did it come from? It came from the same place His
blindness came from. It came from the same place His
residence in Jericho came from. Came from the same place him
being a beggar came from. What God requires, God must provide. And God only accepts that which
he provides. Faith, without faith it is impossible
to please God. They that cometh to him must
believe that he is and he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. And the Lord saw the faith that he had given to Bartimaeus. And He said, Thy faith has made
thee whole and immediately. Now think about it. Well, you
know, I wonder if this is real. I wonder if this is real. No,
I see. I see. They interrogated that
man the Lord gave sight to in the temple. And they tried to
get him to answer all their theological questions, these proud Pharisees
who were on the highway. And they were threatened by anybody
getting off the highway going to the way. And what do you say? What do you say? You know, I
don't know about all your theological debates. Only thing I know is
that once I was blind and now I see. Once I didn't know who
God was. Once I didn't know I was a sinner.
Once I didn't know what Christ had accomplished on Calvary's
cross and now I see. From the highway, which is where
we all are by nature, to the way, which is where some will
be by grace. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
Oh, how we do hope that you would be merciful to us. Thank you
for your word. Lord, give us faith to believe
you. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 29, let's stand
together. Number 29. I was lost and did not know it,
rushing madly to my end. But my God, who's rich in mercy,
would not let me die in sin. Hallelujah. God has saved me, saved me by
His sovereign grace. Jesus died, the Spirit called
me, I am saved by sovereign grace. Chosen by my Heavenly Father,
and redeemed by Jesus' blood, I am justified, forgiven, and
accepted by my God. Hallelujah! God has saved me, saved me by
His sovereign grace. Jesus died, the Spirit called
me. I am saved by sovereign grace. God the Spirit came in power,
gave me life and set me free. He revealed my blessed Savior
and created faith in me. Hallelujah! God has saved me, saved me by
His sovereign grace. Jesus died, the Spirit called
me, I am saved by sovereign grace. God has saved me and will keep
me by the power of His grace. He will guide, guard, and protect
me till I see my Savior's face. Hallelujah! God has saved me, saved me by
His sovereign grace. Jesus died, the Spirit called
me. I am saved by sovereign grace. Thank you.