together this evening as we meditate
in his Holy Word. Let's turn to the Gospel of Mark
chapter 10 and we'll read verses 47 and 48. The Gospel according
to Mark chapter 10 and reading verses 47 and 48. 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
on me. course these words refer to a
man called Bartimaeus and we read a very similar account in
Matthew's Gospel where on that occasion the same account really,
but there were two people and not just Bartimaeus. But nonetheless, we have this
account here of Bartimaeus and we're told that he was a blind
person and he sat by the highway side begging. And then we're
told when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
cry out. So he must have known about Jesus
of Nazareth. He must have heard about Jesus
of Nazareth, and he must have known, therefore, what Jesus
of Nazareth had done. And it's very significant that
he didn't just call out. Jesus of Nazareth. He went on to say, Jesus, thou
son of David. And the significance of that
is that, of course, the Messiah, who was the Lord Jesus Christ,
was indeed referred to as the son of David. So quite clearly,
Bartimaeus believed that here was the Messiah. that one who
could come and could save and could heal. And so he he called
out, began to cry out. It would seem, you know, when
it's referred to as a cry, it's not just a mere whisper. He cries
out in a loud voice so that people would hear and that Jesus might
indeed hear and come to him. Well, we're told that, of course,
the people, they didn't want to hear this man speaking of
Jesus as the Son of David. They didn't believe that Jesus
would be indeed the Messiah, the Son of David, because they
expected Jesus to come as a natural king and not as a person born
into very menial circumstances and live a very ordinary life. And so they didn't want to hear
those words and therefore there were many that tried to stop
him and they charged him that he should hold his peace. Well
it didn't have any effect. And it's wonderful to read such
an account because obviously it has a spiritual position in
each of our lives and to realize that we need in our lives to
have called out to Jesus, the son of David, that he will indeed
have mercy upon us. Every one of us needs God's mercy. And what a blessing it is if
we've found God's mercy, if God has been gracious to us and touched
our hearts and given us to believe that we do come to the glorious
God himself. and have received his mercy,
and we have received his mercy if he has come and directed us
to realise that we are unworthy, we are sinners of the earth and
we do indeed need mercy. And this of course doesn't just
refer to a natural situation, it did principally here in Bartimaeus'
case, but it also refers of course to our spiritual position. And it would be a wonderful thing
in each of our lives if we have come, and if we haven't as yet,
then we will come to this place and cry to God for mercy. We're reminded by such a word
as this, by that great statement made by the publican all those
years ago in that parable that the Lord Jesus spoke, when he
compared the Pharisee and the publican, the Pharisee was very
proud of his prayers. He thought they were good prayers
and he was proud of what he'd done and what he said. On the
other hand, the publican, and of course a publican in those
days was a tax collector, often a rather immoral person. He didn't
cry out in that way. Indeed, we're told he wouldn't
even lift up his eyes. But he beat upon his breast and
simply prayed, simply cried, God, be merciful. to me a sinner. And Jesus spoke about the two.
And he said, I tell you, this man, the publican, went down
to his house justified rather than the other. So what a blessing
for us today if we are amongst those who have come to God. And we do need to come to God
and have prayed in our life from our heart that God will be merciful
to us. a sinner. It would be a great
blessing if God had shown to us that we are a sinner, that
we're not a perfect person, that we have sinned and we do need
God's mercy. Well, here was this man, Bartimaeus,
on this occasion, crying out to God and saying, Jesus, our
son of David, have mercy upon me. And he wouldn't be quietened. and how true that is in our lives.
We need God's mercy. And it won't be just a casual
prayer, a casual crying to God. We will realize that we do need
God's mercy. And if we don't receive God's
mercy, we will never be found in heaven at last. Whereas if
we do receive God's mercy, we can believe that by his grace,
his favor, we shall be. found in heaven at last. So we can understand here that
this man crying out, he cried the more a great deal, a great
deal, not just the odd occasion. He was very sincere. He wanted
Jesus to take notice of him. He wanted Jesus to hear his cry. And that is so true in the life
of a believer. It's a situation which exists
between our soul and God. It's a personal matter. We might
say it's a private matter. And it's an urgent matter between
God and our souls that we need to know that we are recipients
of God's mercy. And it becomes very urgent and
perhaps It may not be people, it may be the devil himself who
perhaps tells us, there's no point in praying like that. You're
wasting your time. God will never hear you anyway.
You're just too bad and God will pass you by. Well, we have this
wonderful example then that this man, when he was told to stop
to hold his peace, he cried the more a great deal. And it's good
if you and I never give up. The devil endeavours to make
us give up. He doesn't want us to believe. He doesn't want us to come to
the Lord Jesus pleading for mercy. He wants us to believe. We needn't
worry about that, it'll be alright. Just carry on in your life, enjoy
your life, and at the end it will be alright. Don't forget
the devil was and is and ever will be a great deceiver. Never listen to the devil. Listen and read the great and
glorious examples that we have in the word of God. And the Lord
is very gracious and very merciful, but he has told us very clearly
that he will be inquired of. He will be prayed to. I will
be inquired of by the house of Israel by the church of God.
He will be inquired of that he will come and have mercy upon
us. So the great question, of course,
is for all of us as to whether we have been like Bartimaeus
and have cried out for mercy. Now, Bartimaeus in this particular
situation, of course, he was a blind man. Well, you may say,
well, that has no relevance then to me. But it does have a relevance
because everybody is born spiritually blind into this world. And all of us need to have our
eyes opened. And what a great blessing it
is if God comes and does indeed Open our eyes, you know, in the
prophecy of Isaiah, which is really a wonderful prophecy.
And sometimes it's referred to the gospel of Isaiah because
it gives us some wonderful words with regard to the gospel. But we can read in the thirty
fifth chapter of Isaiah where the prophet says, he says, 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. And we can carry on in that 35th
chapter. It's not a long chapter, but
we won't do so tonight, but you can read it yourselves. What
a mercy then to realize that today we worship the same God
that Isaiah speaks of here. And when he tells us then, the
eyes of the blind shall be opened. And so spiritually, all of us,
need our eyes to be open. And we need our eyes to be open
really on two counts. First of all, to realise that
we need to be saved from all our sins. We need to be delivered
from all our sins. And the only way that can occur
is by being blessed with coming to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and believing that he can do great things for us, that
he will indeed save our souls, that he will hear our cry, like
this cry that Bartimaeus said when he cried out, Thou son of
David, have mercy on me. Every true believer comes to
that position and cries out for mercy. To God it's a very personal
situation between your soul and God and my soul and God. And it's not something that is
said to impress people. No, it's because you and I are
brought to that place where we have a real spiritual need. And we know that unless God looks
upon us, unless God is merciful to us, we shall not enjoy heaven
at last. We shall be eternally lost. So it is a very important and
real prayer. And so we hear this man, Bartimaeus,
and Jesus heard his cry. Wasn't that wonderful? There
was a crown of people. Jesus heard Bartimaeus. He heard him cry out. And we're
told Jesus stood still. Let's think of that. Jesus, as
it were, stands still when we pray, when we cry to God for
mercy. He doesn't pass us by. He hears
our prayer and he stands still. And in this case, he commanded
this man to come to him. And they call the blind man,
saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise He calleth thee. What a blessing that was. And
what a blessing for us. If the glorious Saviour calls
us. Calls us. And we come, as it
were, before the Saviour. This man then came before the
Saviour. He came to Jesus. And we're told,
and he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. He may say, well why did he do
that? Why did he cast away his garment? It would seem he didn't
want anything to hinder him. We don't know how far he had
to walk or run to come to Jesus and of course he was being led
but he didn't want anything obviously to hinder him so he cast away
his garment. What a wonderful blessing that
is. You know in our lives sometimes
we may have things which hinder us in coming to Jesus. We may have baggage which we
need to get rid of in coming to Jesus. What a blessing it
is, therefore, when we're willing to come to Jesus just as we are. We don't have to come in any
special way. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. That's the hymn writer. But how
true it is and what a mercy if you and I do just that. We come
to Jesus just as we are because we need mercy. We need his blessing. We need his favor. And so we
see here Bartimaeus coming in this way, cast away his garment
and he came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man
said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. He acknowledged that Jesus was
his Lord. Lord, he said, that I might receive
my sight. You know, if we are blind, spiritually
blind, And we don't have any sight, any true spiritual sight. It'd be a great blessing if you
and I come to Jesus and desire just that, that you and I might
have spiritual sight. You may say, well, what is spiritual
sight? Spiritual sight really is to
understand the great and glorious plan of salvation. to realise
that Lord Jesus Christ came into this world for that wonderful
divine purpose to save sinners. And what a great blessing if
the Lord shows to us that he's come into this world to save
your soul and save my soul. And if that is to be so, we shall
be We shall lose all our sin. It will all be taken away, something
that you and I cannot remove ourselves. We don't have any
ability to do it. We don't have the right currency
to pay that it might be removed. We are dependent upon the Lord
Jesus Christ taking away all our sin. And then what a wonderful
thing it is if God then opens our eyes, our spiritual eyes,
to observe that Jesus, the only begotten son of God, came into
this world with that divine commission to save our souls. And in order to save our soul,
he had to pay the price to redeem us. There was a price. It was a ransom required to free
us from our sin. A ransom that you and I could
not pay, but a ransom that the Lord Jesus Christ could pay and
would pay for every true believer. And what was that price? The
price was His precious blood. It was His death. That was the
necessary payment to free us from our sin. And how remarkable
and how wonderful and how amazing to think that Almighty God should
condescend to come into this sinful world and live that perfect
life and endure all the horrors that he had to, and at last give
his life upon that cross at Calvary in order to redeem our souls. The Word of God has a grand and
glorious statement, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Now you and I will not think
that that statement is true. Unless the Holy Spirit convinces
us that there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin,
He only could unlock the gate of heaven to let us in. It was and is through His glorious
finished work that was completed upon that cross at Calvary. And
it's good sometimes to recognize that those things didn't come
by chance. No, they were ordained in eternity
past. And it's really quite wonderful
to realize that in this chapter that we read together, we read
of what the Lord Jesus spoke about that which he would have
to endure and the detail that he gave. And yet, when it came
to pass, The people didn't really understand what had happened. And he said in the verse 33 saying,
behold, we go up to Jerusalem and the son of man shall be delivered
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn
him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles and they
shall mock him and shall scourge him and shall spit upon him and
shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again." Well,
if you know anything of the Word of God, you will know that was
a very accurate statement. And that, of course, was spoken
before it came to pass. And it came to pass in that detail. And again, I always think it's
very confirming to be able to read such statements in the Word
of God such clear statements that came to pass to prove that
it is the work of God. It's not the work of man. It's
not the words of man. It's the work and words of Almighty
God. And so, of course, it came to
pass. And although that, of course,
was for the whole Church of God to think, like Bartimaeus, the
Lord came specifically to save his soul, to take away all his
sins. And so it is in each of our lives. If we are a true believer to
think of that, it's amazing, isn't it? But almighty God should
have planned that great salvation in order to save our souls, in
order to redeem our souls, in order to pay the price, to take
away our sin. Don't forget then the glorious
words of the Apostle Peter, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. There could be nothing really
more valuable, could there be? Because that price that was paid
would free us from the curse of sin and would bring us safe
home to glory. without shedding of blood. There's
no forgiveness. There's no remission. It's the
only way. So what a blessing tonight if
you and I desire our spiritual eyes to be opened to understand
and rejoice in and praise God for the great and wonderful plan
of salvation and to be able to then believe that Lord Jesus
did come to save me. He has heard my prayer. And what is our prayer? Have
mercy upon me. He had mercy upon Bontemius.
He's had mercy upon millions of people down through the ages.
And my friends, the door of his mercy stands open all day to
the poor and the needy. that knock by the way, not by
the proud, not by the self-righteous, but those who are poor and needy. So you see, you and I have to
come right down. When we come with nothing in
my hand, I bring simply to the cross I cling. What is the cross
of Jesus? mean to you and me. We read about
it, don't we? People speak about it. But do
we realize that it was the ordained plan of Almighty God to redeem
his church, to come into this sinful world and die that sin-atoning
death upon that cross. That was the whole purpose of
the Lord's life and death. And it sets before us the glorious
gospel. And it shows us that we cannot
glory in anything that we've done. Indeed, as we read so very
beautifully in the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, and in
the second chapter, in the eighth verse, the apostle says, for
by grace are ye saved, through grace, and that none of yourselves
It is the gift of God, God's free unmerited gift to unworthy
sinners. By grace are you saved, through
faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship. It's God's work in our hearts. to show us this great and glorious
salvation, and every one of us must know it. We will never get
to heaven unless we know and have the wonderful application
of it, for we are His workmanship, His work in our hearts, in our
lives, to deliver us from the wrath to come. His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained, that we should walk in them. He goes on to say, Remember
that in time past ye were without Christ. Is that true in your
life and my life? In time past we were without
Christ. being aliens, that means foreigners
and enemies, from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from
the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world. We were all like that when we
were blind spiritually and we had no spiritual sight. But what
a mercy if we understand the following words, but now, but
now there's been a change, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes
were far off, far off from God, didn't want God, didn't want
to know about God. were far off, are made nigh,
are brought nigh, near to God. How? By the blood of Christ. The hymn writer has a line. It's
a very precious line. Invaluable blood. As I've already
said, without shedding a blood, there's no remission. You and
I need thee to know that we are indeed under the blood For he
is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle
wall of partition between us. Well, what a mercy if we have
peace with God. What a mercy. What a blessing.
And we're told that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. and came
and preached peace to you, which were far off and to them that
were nigh. Well, what a mercy if God has
shown us his love and his mercy. You know, it is only because
of his love toward us that we receive his mercy. It's not because
we have any good thing in ourselves. It's not that there's anything
in us that warrants our salvation. It's just because of his wonderful
favor and his wonderful love. That's why we have those wonderful
words in Jeremiah's prophecy. And never, as I tell you sometimes,
never turn away from the Old Testament. There's some great
and glorious truths in it. And this is one of them. And
in the 31st chapter and the third verse, Jeremiah says, The Lord
hath appeared old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. That was true in Jeremiah's life. It's true in every believer's
life. to realize that God comes and
shows to us his love. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. See, God's love never changes. That love is set upon us from
eternity past. Again, it's a grand truth that
our little minds are not really able to absorb. But what a truth
it is to think how amazed we should stand to realise that
God, before the world was formed, God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit, ordained that you and I should be loved
with everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn
thee? And that's a very significant
statement, to have the evidence that God has drawn us to himself. That means he's drawn us away
from all the vanities of this world doesn't occur overnight,
as you might think. The Lord does it and he draws
us to himself so that there was a time when Christ meant nothing
to us. Is it nothing to you or you that
passed by? You can read in the Lamentations
of Jeremiah, nothing to us. That's exactly what it was at
one time. Christ meant nothing to us. Is
it nothing to you? All ye that pass by. But what
a wonderful blessing if God has come and opened our spiritual
eyes so that we behold the great plan of salvation and we're drawn
to the Saviour through his amazing love and mercy toward us and
were able to realize, therefore, with loving kindness, have I
drawn thee. What a mercy. How humbling that
surely should be to you and me to understand God's great mercy
and God's great favor to such unworthy sinners. Well, here
was Bartimaeus crying out, not once, But again and again. Don't forget, as I've said, the
devil is a great deceiver. Tell you where you are. You prayed
and nothing happened. Well, Bartimaeus cried and nothing
happened, but he cried again and again. A great deal. A great
deal. Never give up. Never give up. Realize that God waits to be
gracious. But the truth is that God tests
our sincerity and trusts and tests the faith that he's given
us to believe and causes us, therefore, to be urgent and true
in our prayers, not just mere words. True prayer doesn't come
from the head. True prayer comes from our heart
because we have a real spiritual need. We need to know that we
are saved. We need to know that we are blessed. We need to know that it is well
with our soul. It's no point just carrying on
with a hope so religion and hoping at the end everything will be
all right. No, the apostle Paul tells us. And he was a man that had walked
very contrary to God. And he was brought to that position
to be able to say, we know whom we have believed. My friends,
every one of us here tonight needs to come to that glorious
and wonderful position to be able to confirm by the grace
of God, I know whom I have believed. That one who has looked upon
me that one who's had mercy upon me, that one who came and had
mercy upon Bartimaeus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said
unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. Jesus said
unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. What a
blessing if you and I are blessed with faith to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ as our only Saviour, as our only hope of
salvation. Go thy way, thy faith hath made
thee whole. And what do we read? And immediately
he received his sight. The Lord came and immediately
gave him that natural sight. So it is very often in our spiritual
life that we were in the dark, in the dark, staggering along,
not knowing the way. But then the light shines, the
light of the glorious gospel, and suddenly the Lord Jesus Christ
becomes a living reality. And we come to that position
and have to say, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. There's been a real change. The great God has looked upon
us and brought us to that position and we come to come and confess
it's all of God's favour. It's all of his grace, that free
and merited favour by God to come to us and to deliver us
from what we deserve by nature, the wrath to come and set our
souls at liberty And we're able to come and say, I'm blessed,
I'm blessed, forever blessed. What a mercy then, if you and
I walk in that path and by God's grace we will. And we shall rejoice
in the great work of God. And we shall not complain that
God's unfair. We shall rejoice that he's looked
upon us And he's heard our cry. It may be like Bartimaeus. We've
had to cry out a great deal. We perhaps thought that God has
passed us by. No, God's waited to be gracious. God has a perfect time. He tells us your time is always,
but my time is not yet. God has a perfect time to reveal
to us his great and wonderful salvation. And what a mercy it
is when Almighty God therefore looks upon us in this way and
does reveal himself to us as our great and glorious Saviour.
And immediately he received his sight. And what happened then?
What happened then? And he followed Jesus in the
way. If Jesus, you see, has blessed
our souls, has revealed himself to us, Surely our great desire
will be, our great concern will be, to follow him. And the Word
of God tells us so clearly, those that honour me I will honour,
and those that despise me shall be in lightly esteem. Never despise
the work of God. in your soul. The devil will
perhaps say, that's not worth anything. Don't forget the scripture
tells us, a little that a righteous man hath is better than the treasures
of many wicked. And if God has touched your heart
and blessed you with a little good hope in his mercy and grace
and shown you something of his love, you have great cause to
praise his great and glorious name. And indeed, in the words
of the Bible, to take up your cross daily and follow him. It's a good path. It's a blessed
path. It's a wonderful path. And it's
a path that the Lord speaks of in the Gospel of Matthew. And it's a very wonderful statement
that we read. And we read about following him. And the Lord Jesus says, Take
come on to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find
rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy. and my burden is light. That means being joined to the
Saviour. A blessed, wonderful favour.
My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Well, may we think
upon this great and glorious account of Bartimaeus and realise
he was given the faith to cry out, Jesus, our son of David,
have mercy upon me and not to be put off. Because we're told
he cried the more a great deal. Thou son of David, have mercy
upon me. The Lord called him, the Lord
gave him sight, and the Lord blessed him indeed. May we each
walk that path and rejoice in the great and wonderful work
of salvation in our souls. Amen.