Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. Look for Mark
to say Amen. Mark chapter 10 and verse 46. And they came to Jericho, and
as they went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, sat by the highway
or sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard it, that Jesus
of Nazareth 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 out the more a great
deal, saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. when men consider that mercy
is not something that they can earn, borrow, or steal, but is dispensed
according to the sovereign will of the Creator, then they will
bow before His throne and scepter and acknowledge that He's truly
God. And with blind Bartimaeus they'll
cry, Lord have mercy on me. Or with the publican who we mentioned
this morning. They'll beg, Lord I know that
I don't deserve it and you don't owe it to me, and I can't make
you give it to me, but if you will, be merciful to me, a sinner. And only when men consider that
mercy is not something that they can earn, borrow or steal, will
they come to that place. They just will not come to that
place as long as they believe that they're entitled to mercy or as long as they believe that
mercy somehow can be earned by their works Somehow they can
be placed in the favor of God because of who they are or what
they are. Why then will men not ask for this mercy? Even though mercy is God's prerogative,
yet it is not given to those who do not desire We oftentimes talk about the doctrine of sovereignty and
the doctrine of election, and sometimes people are made to
think that what we're talking about is that God elects a man
unto salvation, and the election that we're talking about is that
he takes this man unwillingly, that he makes him an unwilling
subject. But I'll tell you here and now,
there'll never be one who embraces the mercy of God but what is
made willing to embrace it. There'll never be one who will
desire the mercy of God but what wants to desire the mercy of
God. God will not have no unwilling
subjects in his kingdom. God will not have no unwilling
inhabitants of his heaven. Every man will be willing, even
though mercy is God's prerogative. Yet it is not given to those
who do not desire it. A man must desire it before he
will ever receive it. Now, I think that I know of three reasons why men
will not ask for mercy. because of ignorance. That's
one reason why men will not ask for mercy, is because of ignorance.
I heard an old brother preacher just recently, and he said that
he'd been preaching to a people for twenty years, and he said they never knew what
he was talking about. He said he'd been preaching to
a people for twenty years, And he said they were so dumb and
ignorant, they didn't know what he was talking about. And when
they did finally get some insight or a glimpse as to what he was
saying, that's when they turned him off and would have nothing
more to do with him. is one reason why men will not
ask for mercy, because men are totally destitute of any knowledge
of the holiness of God. If a man does not have any understanding
or knowledge of who God is and His righteous character, they
are certainly not going to appeal to him for mercy. They are destitute
of any knowledge of the holiness of God. They are destitute of
any knowledge of the rigorous demands of His righteous law,
and they are certainly ignorant of their own depraved condition. The Bible says in the book of
Romans, and I want to read it to you, chapter 10, verse number
2, it has this to say about man's
ignorance in regard to the righteousness of God and regard to the condition
of a man's soul. You see, a man would dishonor
God by expecting Him to receive their sincerity and good works,
morality, and a thousand other things as sufficient for their
ticket to heaven. Now, here in this 10th chapter
of the book of Romans, verses 2 and 3, the Apostle Paul says,
For I bear them record. That is, I go on record knowing
what I am talking about and knowing what these people believe. for
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. Keep in mind now, we are talking
about why men will not ask for mercy. And I have said they won't
ask for mercy because they are totally ignorant and destitute
of any knowledge of the holiness of God and their own alienated
depraved condition. This verse says now, verse number
three, For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, they
go about to establish their own righteousness, and have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness, to everyone that believed. Being
ignorant, then, of God's righteousness means two things. It means, first
off, that one is not acquainted with God's personal righteousness
and holiness, and that one, I don't want to use the word
reject, but I guess that's the word for it. One rejects either deliberately
or unknowingly the righteousness of God which is by faith in Christ. When men are ignorant of the
personal righteousness of God, then they go about to establish
their own righteousness. Well, they suppose that God may
be pleased with something other than what he has demanded. And
God has demanded absolute perfection. When a man, you see, is ignorant
of the righteousness of God, when he is ignorant of it, what
does he do? He goes around trying to establish
a righteousness of his own, thinking that the righteousness of his
own would be pleasing or would be a substitute for that which
God Almighty demands, ignorant of the righteousness of God. God demands absolute perfection.
That is what he demands. I want you to know this evening,
brethren, that God is so righteous and God is so holy
that He would not spare His own Son. And if God would not spare His
own Son under any circumstance, then He's certainly not going
to spare you and I. Now, if there was ever a person in the entirety of the human
race that God would let off of the hook, don't you reckon it
would be the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son? I reckon
it would be. But God did not let His own Son
off of the hook. Did not. He was made sin in our
behalf. And when He was made sin in our
behalf, God poured out the vials of His wrath upon Him. God did not withhold anything
by way of his wrath or his hatred towards those who were transgressors
of his law, but God poured out every ounce, every drop of the
gall of bitterness. God poured it out upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. He who spared not his own son. Now you see what I'm talking
about? Why is it that men will not seek mercy or will not call
upon God for mercy? First off, because they're ignorant
of the righteousness of God and the demands of God. They're ignorant
of it. They don't know. They don't know. They're ignorant of their own
condition. They don't know how bad off they are. They don't
think they've got a virus. They think they're just sick.
They think that there's hope for a cure. Somebody's going
to come up with a cure and cure them. Somehow God's going to
wink at their disobedience in the end time and say, well, that's
all right, you did the best you can. But, you see, they're ignorant
of the righteousness of God because if God did not spare His own
Son, If there was any person that could have been spared or
let off of the hook, certainly it would have been the Lord Jesus
Christ. But God will not spare the guilty. God will not spare the guilty.
Whosoever sinneth shall surely die. That's what he says. I want you to know, secondly,
that to reject or to turn aside God's Son is to damn your soul
forever. That's right. For a man to turn
aside the mercy that God gives or grants or dispenses in Christ
and says, I'll have none of it. I'll have none of it. I do not
want. I'm tired of all this Jesus business. I don't want it. I've had enough. I've heard enough about it. Well,
I want you to know that when a man does that, he damns himself
forever. because God will accept no other
righteousness other than the righteousness that was worked
out in his Son. God will not accept it. And it's an insult to the honor
and integrity of God Almighty to offer something to him by
the deeds of the flesh or the works of the law. hoping or trusting
or believing that somehow what you do or what we say or what
we think or what our intentions are, God may grant mercy to us. No siree, God will not grant
mercy to anybody apart from the mercy and righteousness that's
been worked out in the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, brethren, I
want us to know here this evening that God is not in any way obligated
to save anyone. He may, now listen to me, He
may have mercy or He may harden us according to His good pleasure. not obligated to save any of
us. Over in the book of Romans, chapter
9, I believe it is, it's a verse that I've used time and time
again that says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Well, men cannot perceive their
need of such. Consequently, unless a miracle
takes place, poor sinners Poor sinners now are doomed for eternal
damnation. Well, a man does not obligate
the Lord Jesus Christ by his decision for Jesus. Salvation,
and we have told you time and time again, is knowing the only
true God. And one certainly cannot know
God or his Son unless the Son is pleased to reveal him to him. Turn with me to the eleventh
chapter of the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter eleven. Matthew chapter eleven and verse
twenty-seven. Now listen, I'm saying that a man cannot
know God or His Son unless the Son is pleased to reveal Himself
to that person. Listen to this verse. All things,
that's you and I. We're included in that all things. You underscore that. All things,
that includes every one of us. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. All things now. And no man knoweth
the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. Now God has, according to this
verse, delivered us all into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have said this time and
time again. According to this first scripture,
the all things now are delivered unto me of my Father. That includes
every one of us. Every member of Adam's race has
been delivered into the hands of him who is on the throne,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if that be so, and it is
so according to the Scriptures, He must save us or damn us. He must do it, not will He do
it, can He do it, what will be the ultimate, He must, you see,
God must do something with us. All things have been delivered.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father. That is, every
one of us have been delivered into the hands of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now he's got to do something with us. He's got to do something
with us. Now he must, he must save us
or he must damn us. One of the two. One of the two. God help us if we ever get a
hold of that. If a man ever gets a hold of that, he'll get something
right there. You ever understand that, you'll understand something
of free grace and you'll understand something of the sovereignty
of God. That God has delivered us all into the hands of His
Son and He must save us or damn us. And if men were not ignorant
of these things, they would beg for mercy. Men don't know that. If everybody would know that
he's been delivered into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the Lord Jesus Christ must either save him or damn him,
what would happen to him if he knew that? He'd beg God for mercy! That's what he'd do. But he don't
know that. He don't know. You see, he's
ignorant. of what? Ignorance of the righteousness
and the rigorous demands of Almighty God. He is ignorant of his own
depraved condition. Now, another reason why men will
not ask for mercy is this, is because they are filled They are choked
up with unbelief. If you could really corner a
man, they would admit their unbelief. Actually, most persons that I
know of and that I talk to and am around, they do not really
believe they are sinners. Is that true with your experience? Most people do not really believe
they are sinners. If they do not believe they are
sinners, they are never going to beg God for mercy, are they?
They are ignorant, dumb. Father Barnard said they would
not know the Lord Jesus Christ if they met Him in the middle
of the road. That is right, they would not. Men do not believe that they
are sinners and deserve eternal punishment. They certainly don't
believe that. They don't believe that they
deserve to go to hell. They don't believe that. You
can't convince a man that. You can take the Scriptures and
talk to him and take a club and beat him and he will not believe
that he has earned or he deserves to go to hell. Men do not believe that there
is a place where men shall be tormented day and night forever
and ever. Don't believe that. Years ago,
I was preaching and I was talking about this, about the fires of
hell. And a young woman at that time,
this has been about several years back, and the woman was relatively
young. She got real upset, real upset. And she said, Well, I never heard
that before and I just don't believe it. I do not believe
that there is a place of eternal torment. I don't believe it.
And so she called and asked me if I'd come to her house and
visit with her and talk to her about it. And I did. I went to
her house and that's the first that she had her father-in-law
there with her and her father-in-law I proposed certain propositions
and questions to him in regard to the awfulness of this terrible
place called hell, and did I really believe it, and was there such
a place, and did the Bible teach that, or was it just all a myth,
or was it something that men used to scare people? And I tried
to assure him the best way that I knew how, that there was a
place. There was a place. where men
go who are not hid in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are unpardoned
and unforgiven, who cry not for mercy, and who die with a lie
in their right hand. They go to hell. Now, men do
not believe that there is a place where men shall be tormented
day and night forever. And if they did believe that,
they would cry out for mercy. And now here is the most astounding
thing, I think, as to why men will not cry out for mercy. Listen,
most men do not believe that God had anything to do with the
death of Jesus Christ. Did you know that? Most men,
you talk to men about the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ and
tell them, that Jesus Christ was born to that end, that in
the mind of God he was a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, and that God delivered all things and brought that into one particular
focal point on Golgotha, on Calvary, that it was God himself who brought
the Lord Jesus Christ. It was God who poured out His
wrath upon Jesus there on the cross. And men will say, What
kind of a God is that who would punish His own Son, who would
send His own Son to Calvary? Men do not believe that God had
anything to do with the death of His Son. Did you know that?
Men don't believe that. Ask them sometime. Ask them tomorrow
where you work You get to talk to someone about religion, ask
him if he believes that God had anything to do with the death
of Jesus Christ. And immediately he'll tell you,
oh no, there's a bunch of people there in Jerusalem and they got
jealous of Jesus because He's such a good man and they just
decided to kill Him. And God didn't have anything
to do with it. It was cruel, wicked murders.
And they lusted for his life, and they thirsted for his blood,
and they would not be satisfied until their lust was satisfied. And so they killed him. God didn't
have anything to do with it. It was the Jews that killed Jesus.
It was the Gentiles that killed Jesus. But brethren, behind it
all, it was God. It pleased God to bruise him,
you see. It was God who poured out His wrath upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you remember that? Most people
that I know of and that I have to do with, they do not believe
that God had anything to do with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if such poor sinners could
see the thin thread upon which they hang barely out of the jaws
of hell. If they could only see the rich
man who has been in hell for these many hundred years, being
tormented in the flames of God's wrath, then I am sure, I am positive,
that they would beg for mercy. That is the reason why men will
not beg or sue God for mercy. They are ignorant. Well, the
writer of the book of Hebrews knew far better than that. Listen
to what he said. He said, For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth
unto me, I will recompense. Vengeance is mine. Don't you
go about, the writer of the book of Hebrews, avenging those that
would do hurt to the gospel of the Lord Jesus, or do hurt to
you, or do hurt to my son. That's not your business. Vengeance
belongeth to me, and I, I God, will recompense. Then again it says the Lord shall
judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. And lastly now, men will not
beg for mercy or they will not sue God for mercy because of
their pride. That's right. To beg for mercy
is humbling and humiliating. Man won't do that, will he? Man won't do that because it's
too humiliating. To beg God for mercy, it's an
indication of what? It's an indication of one's weakness,
see? To beg God for mercy is to say
that I am totally dependent upon another for mercy, or totally
dependent upon another for salvation. But this, I guess, is too much
to ask out of this generation, don't you think? You know what
this generation says? It says, we're rich. Increased
with goods and have need of nothing. We're not going to beg you for
salvation. We're not going to beg you. You think I'm going
to beg you to save me? Never in this world am I going
to humble myself and beg. No, I'm not going to do that.
Well, here's a solemn warning of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
says that everyone that exalts himself shall be abased, and
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. And how does a man
humble himself? Well, I'll tell you how. I think
we can find the answer to this question as it falls from the
lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said there in the book of
Luke, chapter 18, he said in telling a story or narrative of his experience. He said that the publican was
standing afar off, and he would not lift his eyes, he would not lift his
eyes up to heaven, but all he could do was smite upon his breast. and say, God, be merciful to
me a sinner. And this man, said the Lord Jesus
Christ, went down to his house, what? Justified. And this man went down to his
house justified. He had no pride. Had no pride. Understood his condition. understood
something of God's demand. And he said, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. He said, if I'm ever pardoned
of my sins, you'll have to do it. He says, Lord, I know that
I'm not entitled to it. I'm not entitled to mercy. That's
what he said. I'm not entitled to it. He says,
I know I can't buy it because he said, I'm destitute of righteousness. I can't buy mercy. And he said,
I'm powerless to do anything about it. He said, I can't make
you give me mercy. That's what he said. I can't
make you do it. But he said, Father, if you will, if you will,
have mercy upon me a sinner. That's humbling yourself. Have
mercy, for I'm a sinner. Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner
to the umpteenth degree. I have no merit about it. I haven't
done anything that I can brag about. Oh, God, help us to see
our destitute condition. Help us to empty ourselves of
our righteousness, our self-righteousness, and our pride. and come before
Him as we are. Come before Him. Quit thinking
more highly of ourselves than we ought to. God help us. We are sinners. We are sinners. I don't know whether you know
that or not, but bless God you are a sinner whether you know
it or not. You are as bad as I am and you may even be worse.
I don't know. But I know, bless God, that we
are sinners. And I know, unless you know,
that you are a sinner, that you never in this world or in the
world to come will you sue God for mercy. Unless you know it,
you won't do it. You won't do it. Because you're
ignorant of what God's demand because your pride is too great. And a thousand other things that
I haven't got time to mention. God help us. God help us. We're objects of pity. Oh, for ever's sake.