Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. I'd like for
us to look at a very familiar passage of Scripture. Today it's
the passage that deals with the Lord healing a blind beggar,
blind Bartimaeus, the Lord Jesus Christ, being in the days of His humiliation,
the days of His servitude unto the Father, He who was made flesh
and dwelt among us, came into this world, the Scripture says,
not to be ministered to. That's what He says in verse
45 of Mark 10. He said, for even the Son of
Man came not to be ministered unto. Let me ask you this. What are we going to do for the
Lord? What are we going to do for Him?
I'll tell you what we need. We need for the Lord to do something
for us. This is what He said. The Son
of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give His life a ransom for many. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
on this earth, He went about, the scripture
says, doing good. And doing good. What He did,
He did for the glory of His Father, for the good of His people, and
to teach His people. He healed. He healed the blind,
he raised the dead, he gave hearing to the deaf, he gave strength
in the legs to those that were lame. But why he did this? It wasn't that he was here just
to heal. But what he was doing was he
was teaching us spiritually that which he came into this world
to do for His people. He came, the Scripture says,
to give His life a ransom for many. He's telling us that what
He's doing, He's doing for the salvation of His sheep, of His
people. So here we are, in this blessed
passage of Scripture, and the Lord is going about. His steps
are being directed. He must needs go. Remember when
there was a woman that he had to meet at a well. A well in Sychar. And he was going to meet this
well. He must need to go through Samaria because there was one
of his own there. Well, he's doing the same thing.
Here the scripture declares in verse 46, 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 highway side, begging. Now, imagine where the Lord is. The scripture says that He's
coming to a place called Jericho, a cursed city, cursed of God
Almighty. A city that was a very fit, proper
picture and type of this wicked world. Remember when the scriptures
declare that God looked in Genesis chapter 6 verse 5. He saw that
every imagination of the thoughts of men were only evil continually. Well this city of Jericho is
a cursed city and it's a picture of where we are. We're in a world
that Almighty God is going to destroy and He's going to make
new. He's going to make a new world
and it's going to be created and ruled in righteousness. But this world in which we live
right now is a wicked world. We're sojourners. pilgrims traveling
through this world, a world by nature in which the light of
God's glory in Christ shines, but it shines in darkness. And
the darkness comprehends it not. But in this cursed city, now
it says, he came to Jericho, now listen to this, and as he
went out of Jericho with his disciples, He's coming into a
city and he's going out of a city. It doesn't say that there was
anybody in particular in that city that he was going to stop
for. He walked in and walked out. But while the scripture declares
that he was going out, it said that there was a blind man. His name was Bar. That means
son Timaeus. And the scripture interprets
his name for us. The son of Timaeus. He was a man, a boy that was
born. He was a child that grew up.
He's a blind man. And he's the son of his daddy. That's what he said. Daddy's
name was Timaeus. What's his name? Bartimaeus. Now, let's consider what's being
said right here. Who are we? We're all sons of
our daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and
all the way back to Adam. So here's what we are, sons of
Adam. We go all the way back. And we're just like Adam as he
fell in the garden and disobeyed God. That's the way we are. We're
all sinners. By birth, well, we were conceived
in sin. And we came forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies. And so we're just like all that
ever went before us. The blood of Adam, Adam, Adam,
Adam, Adam flows through our veins. So here we are, out of
the same lump, sons of Adam. And Barnabas, the scripture declares,
he was blind. But let me ask you this, is that
not the way we are by nature? All of us, born into this world
spiritually blind, sick, crown of our head, sole of our feet,
no soundness, our wounds are not bound up, they are not mollified,
there is no ointment put on them, we are just oozing vessels of
rebellion against God. And the scripture says that here's
what he was doing. He sat by the wayside begging. Now he was begging for the alms
of this world that perished. I don't doubt that one bit. He was probably at this particular
moment when he was Sitting on the wayside there,
the side of the highway, he was begging, asking people if anybody
could spare a dime, and oblivious to the need of his soul. But
what a blessing that this man was a beggar. Almighty God had
in mercy and grace made that man to be nothing more brought
him down to the very lowest of vocations. All he could ask for
was help from a hand or for the mercy of others. But was this
not those that the Lord came to this world to save? Those
that are spiritually blind, spiritually ignorant. He was blind, and just
think, Probably from birth. I'm assuming, I don't know, but
if he was blind from birth, he didn't know any better. What
did he know? He had never seen the Son, never
seen another person. He was a beggar. He was ignorant of his plight.
He wasn't able to do anything about it. And the Scripture declares
in verse 47 and 48, and when he heard It was Jesus of Nazareth. Now here's a blessed thought.
When he heard faith, cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word
of God. What this man had heard before,
I don't know. What this man had heard prior
to this moment, right now, we're not told. But here's what we
know. 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
that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more, a great
deal. Thou son of David, Have mercy
on me. Now, you think, here's the Lord,
He's walking, He's coming, He went into Jericho, He's going
out of Jericho. On the other side of Jericho, He's not stopped. People, I don't doubt for one
second, He's talking. There's a multitude. The Scripture
says, here in 46, as the Lord went out of Jericho with His
disciples and a great number of people. How many people? I
don't know. But there was a big number of
people. How much do you think they were talking? Oh, well,
they were just walking down the road. Everybody's talking, everybody's,
you know, a big roar of conversation. And out of the midst of that
roar, of that conversation, somebody says something, and that blind
man heard it. And what he heard them say was, of Nazareth was passing by when
he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. But notice what blind
Bartimaeus cried out. Immediately when he heard that
it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, Jesus, thou
son of David. The Spirit of God took what that
man heard someone say who it was, and the Spirit of God taught
that man immediately. That's the Messiah. That's the
one who's passing by. And the Lord gave him a heart,
made him willing, made him willing to cry out unto the Lord and
to Him. This wasn't just Jesus of Nazareth. It wasn't just that one that
most refer to with contempt. Peter in Matthew 26.71 was gone
out, the Scripture says, into the porch. Another maid saw him
and said unto him that were with him, this fellow was also with
Jesus of Nazareth. It was a title. It was a title of his earthly
birth, but it was a title of contempt. Mark 1.24, the Scripture
says that a man with an unclean spirit One had a demon. He said he was
in the synagogue and he said unto the Lord. Now here's what
the demon said. Let us alone. What have we to
do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us?
I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God. He knew who
He was. And referred to Him with words
of contempt. Jesus of Nazareth. The chief
priests and Pharisees came to take the Lord in the garden,
and the Lord asked them in John 18 verse 5, Whom seek ye? And they answered, listen, they
didn't say, Jesus thou son of David, they didn't say the Messiah,
here Jesus of Nazareth, that's who we want. It's one that's
claimed to be God. Well many resented Him and called
Him by that common name, just like most religionists. And if you hear this message
and you've heard this or you've said this yourself, we don't
refer to Him, God's people don't refer to Him as Jesus. They don't
refer to Him with just that common name. Spirit of God spoke to
Him or of Him as that. But we don't talk and say His
name like that. It's the Lord Jesus. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ Himself. And so when you
hear someone just refer to Him as Jesus, that's so disrespectful. He is the Lord of glory. But then there were times not
only did many use that name Jesus of Nazareth as a word or title
of There were times when this title
was used to rebuke those who had resented Him and not believed
on His name. That name that set forth His
humility and His servitude unto the Father. Whenever the Lord
was pleased to call Saul of Tarsus out of darkness, this is in Acts
22. I'm sorry, Acts 22 verses 4-8. Saul of Tarsus, remember he was
going to go to Damascus. He had letters of authority.
He was going to go and he was going to take those who were
of the way. The ones that had claimed to
believe on this Jesus of Nazareth. This one who claimed to be God. And Saul of Tarsus had these
letters and he was going to take those letters of authority and
he was going to take them bring them back to Jerusalem and throw
them into prison. And when the Lord stopped him,
and now Paul the apostle is relating what happened to him in Acts
chapter 22 and verses 4-8, he's telling what happened. And here,
he's talking about the Lord that stopped him. Verses 4-8, Acts
22, it said, I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering
into prisons both men and women. And also the high priest doth
bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders from whom
also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus
to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to
be punished. And when I came, that as I made
my journey, and it came to pass, I'm sorry, that as I made my
journey, and was come nigh to Damascus by noon, Suddenly there
shone from heaven a great light round about me, and I fell into
the ground. I heard a voice saying unto me,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Who am I? I am the Lord. I am that Jesus of Nazareth that
you persecuted. and denied. And I'm calling you. He called Paul, you know this,
and called him to be an apostle. So the world has no problem referring
to this One, this Holy One of Heaven, Jesus of Nazareth. They have no problem referring
to Him commonly as if He's One that just came to try to make
this world a better world, trying to reform men, trying to give
men a chance to allow Him to serve, to save them, but to refer
to Him as the Son of David? To refer to Him as the Messiah? To refer to Him as the Sovereign
God who was ever before the Father? Man by nature does not love or
respect or serve Him as so. Almighty God is going to have
to do something for a sinner, before they'll refer to Him from
the heart as Jesus, Thou Son of David. This is the Lord God
Himself. This is God to whom the Father,
Jehovah, said in Psalm 110.1, Sit Thou at My right hand until
I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. When they started hearing blind
Barnabas cry out back in Mark chapter 10, the Scripture says,
when he called upon the Lord, Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me. They charged him that
he should hold his peace, but the more they tried to get him
to hush, he cried the more, a great deal, thou Son of David, Have
mercy on me. Have mercy. It's not money that
I want. It's not money I want mercy. It's not money I need mercy.
It's just, Lord, don't pass me by. I need mercy. Barnimaeus knew if he passes
me by. Let me ask you this, you that
hear my voice today. If he passes you by, if he passes
me by, what do we got? We don't have anything. We're
gone. We have no hope. We have nothing
but judgment to look to. Lord, don't pass me by. Lord,
don't leave me to myself. Bartimaeus knew if this is not
the time, if this is the only time I've got, if he leaves me
here, all I've got is the blackness of darkness. All I've got is
eternity cast out from Him. That's all I've got. Jesus, Thou
Son of David, have mercy, have mercy. Here's the cry of a sinner. Don't look back. Don't look back
on your profession. Don't look back on your walking
down an aisle. Don't look back on your praying
through or coming to the altar being baptized or joining the
church. Don't look back. I'm telling
you, don't look back at a point in time and think that that was
when the Lord saved me. And I know I was saved and I
look back at that and that's what I'm holding on to. I've
told the folks here so many times, yesterday is like yesterday's
air. I enjoyed it. I needed it right
then. You know what I need right now? I need a breath of air right
now. I need right now. This is what
I need. This is salvation. Today, to cry out to Christ for
mercy. Right now. Today is the day of
salvation. How many funerals have been preached
And some man will stand up and here's someone that has left
this world. And they have nothing to say
concerning their faithfulness to cry out to the Lord today. But they look back to a time
when they were 13 years old, 15 years old. Well, I remember
a time back when so-and-so gave his heart to Jesus. And I realize
that he's not been faithful as he should And my friend, let
me tell you the heart of a believer. I need mercy right now. I need mercy now. Now. I need to come to Christ right
now. I need the Lord now. Yesterday's gone. Water under
the bridge. I need Him today. Jesus, thou
Son of David. He's like that publican. Pharisee
and a publican went into the temple to pray. One of them bragged
on himself, told God how great he was, and how many things he
had done, how much he had given, and how many times he had fasted,
and all of this. And this publican, he stood afar
off. He wouldn't even lift up his
eyes to heaven. He said, God, be merciful. to me, the sinner. Lord, have mercy on me today. Today. And the scripture says
in verse 49, and Jesus stood still. Can you imagine the Lord
of glory, He who spoke this world into existence, He who upholds
All things. Now here's what was happening.
The Lord Jesus Christ was at that moment ruling everywhere. He was ruling everything. Everything was in the palm of
His hand. Everything was being ordered.
There wasn't a blade of grass growing that day. There wasn't
a bird flying. He was not ordering. Right then. And I'll tell you how I know
that. The Scripture says He prayed in His high priestly prayer,
John chapter 17, Thou hast given Him power over all things that
He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
So you know how much power He had while He walked right by
blind Bartimaeus? You know how much power He had?
All of it. He was ruling and reigning God
Almighty, ordering all things, ordering everything. There's
not a thing you can think of that He wasn't controlling and
ordering right then. Everything, everything was being
governed by Him. He was ordering the steps of
everybody that He should give eternal life to as many as the
Father had given Him. Everything was being ordered.
And one man, one blind beggar, one sitting by the wayside, stinking
beggar, one beggar, cried out, Jesus of the house, son of David,
have mercy, have mercy, have mercy. And he stopped. He stood still. But one beggar,
that nobody else that would give the time of day. He stopped. And the scripture says He commanded
him to be called. Oh, can you just... I envy that
man. I envy him. Has the Lord stood
still for me? Has He put me in need of Him, I tell you this, if I've
been made to see the helplessness of myself, my absolute need of
Him saving my soul because I can't, if I realize that He alone has
opened my blind eyes, gave me eyes to see and ears to hear,
if He's given me faith to believe Him that I, without Him, can
do nothing, nothing, then the Lord stop for me. And if He's
done that for you, He's done that for you too. He commanded,
the Scripture says, He stood still and commanded him to be
called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, now listen
to this, this should have been a word of conviction to people
there. Listen to what they said to him.
Be of good comfort, rise, He calleth thee. He calleth thee. I wonder if anything went through
their mind, like, I wonder if He'd call me. He's calling you,
Barnabas. I wonder if any of them thought,
I wonder if He'll call me. I wonder if He'll have mercy
on me. Did they ask Him? If He were to give them a heart
to do so, they would have. Because in the day of His power,
He's going to All that the Father has given Him is going to give
them a heart, willing. In that day, they're going to
cry. That calling of Bartimaeus, you
come, you command Him, you bring Him to me. The Lord did something
for that man. Before Bartimaeus ever called,
God did something for him. I'm telling you, life is imparted
and faith reacts. With that life, God gives faith.
Some people say, well, believe on the Lord so He'll save you.
I'm telling you, if God doesn't save you first, you don't have
faith. You have nothing. That truth of the Lord doing
something, beautifully set forth from Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah chapter
29, verses 10 to 14. Tim, I'm sorry. For thus saith the Lord, that
after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good word toward you, causing you to return to
this place. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord. Can you imagine the thoughts
that the Lord had Bartimaeus, the Lord was coming through that
city of Jericho, and he knew, I'm getting ready to cross his
path. And when the time of love was perfect, God's Spirit spoke
to Bartimaeus and said, hear, hear this. Jesus of Nazareth
is passing by, and he cried out, Jesus, thou son of David. Have
mercy on me. He said, I know the thoughts
I think towards you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace, not
evil, to give you an expected end. That is to give you hope
in your final outcome. That's what it means. To give
you an expected end. I'm going to give you some hope
for your final outcome. Then shall you call on me. and
you shall go and pray unto me, and I'll hearken." That's what
Barnabas did. He prayed, Jesus, thou Son of
David, have mercy on me, and I'll hearken unto you. And you
shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your
heart. That heart that I gave you. And
I will be found of you, saith the Lord. I will turn away your
captivity. I will gather you from all nations,
from all places where I have driven you, saith the Lord. I
will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to
be carried away, captive. Bartimaeus knew, here's my hope. And I'm not going to quit calling. He's like Jacob. The Lord told
him. He said, turn me loose when they
wrestled. And Jacob said, no, not unless you bless me. Back
in verse 50, Mark 10, and he casting away his garment, he
rose and he came to Jesus. What does a believer do when
God calls him out of darkness? I tell you what, he throws away
that old garment of self-righteousness, that's what he does. He says,
I don't, it's dumb to me. By the grace of God, I ain't
coming back here. I'm not going to be here anymore. By God's
grace, I'm going to Him. I'm going to come to Him. I'm
going to call on Him. Scripture says He took His garment,
threw it away, rose, and He came to Jesus. Paul said in Philippians
3, 7, what things were gained to me, those I counted lost.
For Christ, I do count them but done that I may win Christ. You
that believe, do you look back on those things that you once
trusted in. Can you imagine that old garment?
Blind Barnabas is like a child that has a security blanket.
Probably the most precious possession he had. It just covered him.
Covered him up. Kept him warm. Kept him secure. Paul says, I do count them but
dumb that I might win Christ. Barnabas knew that garment A
helpless beggar was not his garment. He said, I don't need that. Was that presumption? No, it
was faith. Faith. In his heart, he knew
this is God. And if God shows mercy to me,
I'm going to see. I will see. But if I perish,
I'm going to perish trusting Him. I'm going to throw this
away. I'm coming to the Lord. In verse 51, and Jesus answered
and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Now let me ask you this. You know what he's going to say,
but let me ask you this. What would you, what would I
do that the Lord should do for us? This is what blind Barnabas
may have said. Lord, that I might receive my
sight. I want to see. Here's a man that
wanted to see the Lord. Is that not the desire of God's
people called out of darkness? What do you want to see? I want
to see Him. I want to see Him in Scriptures. I want to see
Him in Providence. I want to see Him in my heart. And I want to see Him one day
face to face. I want to hear Him say, you know, enter in. Enter into the kingdom that has
been prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.
Lord, I want to receive my sight. Not merely these eyes. He did.
He did. He wanted to see. But a believer,
like blind Barnimaeus, a believer called out of darkness. We were
blind? We were spiritually blind? You say, well, he was really
blind. No, we were blind. We were blind. that we saw, we
still were blind to that which was right, blind to Him. He realized,
He was convinced that this is the One that was spoken of in
the book of Isaiah chapter 35. This is Him. I know it is. Let me read this for you. 35
verses 3 to 6. 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. 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,
and in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the
field." What would you, Barnabas, that I should do for you? Lord,
just what you promised that you'd do back in the prophets. You
said you'd give me sight. Lord, would you give me sight?
He wanted to see the one that his heart knew. Now, would you
cause the eyes of my soul to behold you. Lord, I don't want
to be blind to you anymore. Isn't that the heart of a believer?
I don't want to be blind to you. I don't want to miss you. The
Lord calls me in all that we're going through, even right now,
in this world, pandemic. Let me ask you this. Has the Lord made you to see
Him in this? Somebody said, well, I can't
believe God sent this. Well, the Scripture says, He
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Who
do you think, Synod? You think Satan has the power, the will,
the purpose to do this? No, no, no. He does all things
after the counsel. He worketh all things after the
counsel. Lord, cause me to see You in
this. Cause me to behold Your glory. And the Scripture says
in Jesus in verse 52, it said unto Him, Go Thy Way. What's he saying? Go the way
you want to go. Go the way you want to go. Now
somebody might say, oh please don't tell somebody that. You
tell somebody that, they'll just go the way of the world, they'll
go the way of the devil, they'll go... Really? That's not what
the Lord said. The Lord said, I know my sheep. I know my sheep. And they follow
me. You tell a believer, go the way
you want to go. You know what a believer is going
to tell you? I want to follow Him. That's what I want. I got
an old man that I struggle with. I do understand that. But I tell
you what I want to do. I want to go with Him. I want
to go where He's going. I want to go the way. I want
Him to order my steps. Go thy way. Thy faith hath made
thee whole. And listen to this, and immediately
he received his sight and he did go his way. That's what he
did. He went just exactly where he
wanted to go. What did he do? He followed Jesus in the way.
That's where he wanted to go. He followed after the Lord. Blind
Barnabas, an old stinking beggar, just like all of us by nature.
He heard, faith cometh by hearing. He called. They'll call on Me. He came. All the Father giveth
Me shall come to Me. And He followed. That's what
the Lord said they'd do. All marks of a believer. All
marks of one that God Almighty has been pleased to show mercy
and compassion in the day of His power. I pray that the Lord
bless this Word to our hearts and bless us today as we seek
honestly to honor Him, praise Him, for His glory and our good. Amen.